


Forged By Lighting, Rescued By Love

by chelseaagain



Series: The Forge Fire [1]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies), Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Alternate Universe - High School, Amputee Bucky Barnes, Amputee Loki (Marvel), Amputee Natasha Romanov, Amputee Steve Rogers, And other things too, Artist Steve Rogers, Asgard (Marvel), Autistic Peter Parker, Avenger Anne Weying, Avenger Darcy Lewis, Avenger Eddie Brock, Avenger James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Avenger Jane Foster, Avenger Loki (Marvel), Avenger Sam Wilson, Avenger Stephen Strange, Avenger Venom Symbiote, Avengers Family, Awesome Frigga (Marvel), Awesome Thor (Marvel), Blindness, Bruce Banner is a Mess, Bucky Barnes Has PTSD, Bucky Barnes’s Post-Winter Soldier Hydra Revenge World Tour, Bullying, But also, Canon Divergence - Thor (2011), Community Style Living Arrangements, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Deaf Clint Barton, Eddie Brock is a mess, F/M, Flashbacks, Food Issues, Gen, Good Loki (Marvel), Good Odin (Marvel), HYDRA sucks, Human Experimentation, Hurt/Comfort, Hydra (Marvel), I don’t know if that tag applies but I’m rolling with it anyway, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Torture, It’s not a normal fic, I’m actually really Nervous about posting this fic, Kid Avengers, Kid Harley Keener, Kid Loki and Kid Thor (Marvel), Kid Peter Parker, Learning Disabilities, Like Literally ALL of Them - Freeform, Loki (Marvel) has panic attacks, Loki (Marvel) is a mess, Loki is a Good Bro (Marvel), Money Troubles, Natasha Romanov Is Not A Robot, Natasha Romanov Is a Good Bro, New York City (Marvel), Nightmares, No like for real he is ACTUALLY physically blind in this fic, Panic Attacks, Pepper Potts Needs a Hug, Peter Parker is a Mess, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Avengers, Protective Bucky Barnes, Protective Frigga (Marvel), Protective Heimdall (Marvel), Protective Loki (Marvel), Protective Natasha Romanov, Protective Odin (Marvel), Protective Siblings, Protective Sif (Marvel), Protective Steve Rogers, Protective Thor (Marvel), Protective Venom Symbiote (Marvel), Protective Warriors Three (Marvel), Protectiveness, Teen Avengers, The Author Regrets Everything, The Author Regrets Nothing, The Avengers Are Good Bros, The Avengers Have Disabilities, The Avengers Need a Hug, The Avengers are Ex-HYDRA Agents, The Avengers are a Mess, The Avengers go Dumpster Diving, The Avengers have PTSD, Thor (Marvel) is Not Stupid, Thor (Marvel) is a Good Bro, Thor Has PTSD (Marvel), Thor Loves Electrical Engineering (Marvel), Thor Loves Pop-Tarts (Marvel), Thor has Dyslexia (Marvel), Thor is Blind, Thor is Blind (Marvel), Thor is a Mess (Marvel), Thor’s Lightning Powers (Marvel), Tony Stark & Thor Friendship, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Still Has Arc Reactor, Tony Stark is Poor, Tony Stark is a mess, Venom is a mess, Wanda Maximoff Needs a Hug, Wanda Maximoff is a Mess, Yes I was THAT Cruel, also, and money, at least in this fic, but Vision has a few robot qualities, dumpster diving, food insecurity, it's sad, loki and thor are brothers, natasha romanov is a mess, the author is nervous
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-24
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:08:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 66,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26624965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chelseaagain/pseuds/chelseaagain
Summary: In an alternate universe, HYDRA has done a lot of personal damage to many of the heroes of Marvel. They truly are the victims of horrible trauma. They were taken as HYDRA agents by force, used as lab rats, abused, damaged, brainwashed, mind controlled, and HURT in ways that can't truly ever be fixed. Then they escaped, or were rescued, and they banded together to form a team. The Avengers are a group of ex child HYDRA agents who's mission is to one day destroy HYDRA for good. Their mission is not easy, and the life they live does not help lightning the load. Living with poverty, constantly being bullied, food insecurity, all different kinds of psychological conditions including PTSD, various disabilities and physical illnesses, and almost no family members to turn while working for cash in any way they can and dumpster diving by day and raiding secret HYDRA bases by night is hard enough, especially since they live together without ANY true adults. Adding in that none of the Avengers are 18 yet (at least in Earth years) just makes it harder... So what do they do? Well they’re gonna take down HYDRA...with their newest teammates.
Relationships: Eddie Brock & Anne Weying, Eddie Brock & Loki, Eddie Brock & Venom Symbiote, James "Bucky" Barnes & Steve Rogers, Loki & Avengers Team, Loki & Peter Parker, Loki & Thor (Marvel), Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Stephen Strange & Avengers Team, Thor & Avengers Team, Wanda Maximoff/Vision
Series: The Forge Fire [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2013307
Comments: 7
Kudos: 27





	1. Chapter 1

(Crossposted to my Deviantart. Series Summary: In an alternate universe, HYDRA has done a lot of personal damage to many of the heroes of Marvel. They truly are the victims of horrible trauma. They were taken as HYDRA agents by force, used as lab rats, abused, damaged, brainwashed, mind controlled, and HURT in ways that can't truly ever be fixed. Then they escaped, or were rescued, and they banded together to form a team. The Avengers are a group of ex child HYDRA agents who's mission is to one day destroy HYDRA for good. Their mission is not easy, and the life they live does not help lightning the load. Living with poverty, constantly being bullied, food insecurity, all different kinds of psychological conditions including PTSD, various disabilities and physical illnesses, and almost no family members to turn while working for cash in any way they can and dumpster diving by day and raiding secret HYDRA bases by night is hard enough, especially since they live together without ANY true adults. Adding in that none of the Avengers are 18 yet (at least in Earth years) just makes it harder. They've really only kept their hope Alive because they have each other for support, occasionally along with their mysterious advocate Mr. Coulson and the generosity of neighbors and strangers. However, the Avengers are survivors. They refuse to give up on the hope that HYDRA won't steal the futures they dream of, so they keep fighting any way they can.

Then one spring they start getting new teammates, and they gain more once summer rolls around. They definitely never imagined that they would receive allies from space! To think that everything changed the day the Avengers rescued a couple of new members during a HYDRA base raid, including a newly blinded boy who says his name is Prince Thor Odinson of Asgard. Then over a month later they rescue (and successfully recruit) Thor's brother Prince Loki Odinson, who is QUITE shocked to find out that Thor is not only blind, but is in fact ALIVE, especially considering that Thor was thought to be dead for over two years when his elder brother disappeared without a trace after his banishment ended! Thor meanwhile is shocked to learn that HYDRA had been holding Loki captive almost as long as they had held Thor, and that HYDRA had left Loki with one less leg than he had the last time he had seen him. Two weeks after Loki joins the Avengers, they rescue and recruit even MORE kids and expand the avengers even further! All of these new allies were welcome additions to the Avengers team, but when they realized that getting the Odinson brothers back to Asgard could lead to an interplanetary alliance? Well, that opened up a whole ton of new possibilities for the Avengers that could step up their small scale rebellion against HYDRA up big time! One thing is certain though, these kids are the best chance the world has of beating HYDRA once and for all.

This story will EVENTUALLY focus heavily on Thor and Loki at times so if you like the Brodinsons you're in the right place! You've just got be patient! Warning: In this story I take some creative liberties with science. This story also features characters who have debilitating permanent injuries such as characters with nerve damage, blindness, injury related deafness, or who are amputees, as well as characters with in born conditions like ADHD or learning disabilities. I mean no offense if I portray something incorrectly or something. All of the Avengers will have PTSD in this story. This is not a story for young children due to sensitive topics.)

(Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel or any Marvel Characters in any way, shape, or form)

(What's the difference between form and shape anyway?)

(Chapter Summary: Here we meet the original Avengers for the very first time, learn about their lives, and watch as they gain their first new members in nearly two years)

Forged by Lightning, Rescued by Love

Chapter 1

There was an old run down apartment building hidden away in New York City, right in the thick of Manhattan. Most people think it's abandoned. That's because no one who hadn't been inside could ever guess that people lived there. The building in fact had it's own small community... a community of teenagers.

These teenagers weren't normal kids. These kids were true survivors. Also, almost all of them were... special. Now that isn't meant to be negative. Oh no, it's not offensive at all. There's just no other word for them. All you have to do is look at the residents of the building to see that they are too unique to describe in any other way.

The teenagers in the building all had a tragic backstory behind them. At one point every single one of them had been forced into being an agent of the Nazi organization known at HYDRA. They were all escapees who managed to regain their minds and free themselves from the experimentation and servitude they were put under. Of course, there was permanent damage done to all of them. Their case files were as incredible as they were heart breaking. They should know, they secured the copies and edited them after their escape. Every File explained their Real Names, Asset names, Ages, Sexes, and notes about how HYDRA found them and what their abilities and disabilities included. The files even include their medical records and mental health evaluation results as well as any other important records they needed like licenses or social security cards. It's quite fortunate that two years ago the government was nice enough to get the original Avengers checked out once they all arrived in Manhattan post HYDRA escape before the social workers tried to separate them within the foster care system, but every one of the teens ran away because they refused to be separated, and were eventually emancipated. The original paper files were stored in a triple locked, bullet proof, waterproof, fireproof lockbox that could withstand the force of an elephant stepping on it, but every member had a secret copy of the files should any of their teammates ever need them.

File 0 - Version 1.0

Group Name: The Avengers

Original Avengers Members: Dr. Bruce Banner, Natasha Romanov, Clint Barton, Steve Rodgers, James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes, Sam Wilson, James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Virginia "Pepper" Potts, Anthony Howard "Tony" Stark.

Second Wave Avengers Members (Members that were added later): Currently None.

Team Leader: Steve Rodgers

Head Quarters Building Owner: Anthony Howard "Tony" Stark

Notes: HYDRA is a terrorist organization that was originally formed by the Third Reich, otherwise known as the Nazi Empire, who's main goal is to take over and rule the world. All of the original members of the Avengers team are former HYDRA agents. HYDRA kidnapped and/or found the original Avengers members and either forced or manipulated, if not both, into joining HYDRA's ranks. After serving HYDRA for various amounts of time, the Avengers decided to break out of the HYDRA together. The Avengers were eventually able to free themselves and come together to form a team. The original members all escaped HYDRA on the same day. The NYPD recognize the Avengers as a gang due to their tendency to perform vigilante actions in pursuit of HYDRA cells hidden throughout New York City and the surrounding bureaus and because their actions are considered to be unsupervised by any legal guardians. All Avengers members are victims of illegal human experimentation, brainwashing, mind control and torture, which lead to all of them developing various types of physical disabilities and mental health disorders, with a substantial presence of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) among nearly all, if not ALL, members. The goal of the Avengers is to destroy HYDRA and avenge the fallen who were killed, or who's lives were uprooted or destroyed by HYDRA's actions as well as to rescue (and possibly recruit security wave members into the Avengers) other kids and teens like them who were forced into working for HYDRA.

Avengers Motto: If we can't protect, then we'll avenge.

Subnote: Current records of the torture methods the Avengers were subjected to while under the control of HYDRA can be found attached to the actual medical records instead of the file summary pages.

Subnote 2: Ages in all files are updated and changed at the beginning of each new year.

File 1, Version 1.0

Name: Dr. Bruce Banner.

Birthdate: December 18th

Age: 15

Sex: Male

Asset Name: The Hulk

Notes: Bruce was illegally adopted and kidnapped out of an orphanage by HYDRA agents and forcibly recruited to their cause. This kid is a natural super genius. He is so smart that he earned an illegal medical degree and two other illegal doctorate degrees that he got through online programs while in the clutches of HYDRA. He later got these doctorate degrees officially verified by the United States government after extensive tests were performed. He was subjected to Gamma Radiation experiments that caused a mutation. This mutation gives him the ability to turn into a creature with green skin known as "The Hulk", who has extreme strength and agility. There is no cure for the initial mutation, and the Hulk can be extremely dangerous when his anger is not controlled. Bruce's skin occasionally develops green patches when the Hulk is about to appear. Bruce is prone to motor tics, panic attacks, lapses in memory, and nightmares due to psychological trauma and the nature and damage of the experimentation that lead to the Hulk's initial transformation. Bruce was used as an attack force in Hulk form, a regular medical doctor for HYDRA's members, and as an unwilling researcher for HYDRA's various experiments. (Officially diagnosed with Tourette's syndrome, PTSD, a specific anxiety disorder).

File 2, Version 1.0

Name: Natasha Romanoff

Birthdate: Unknown (November 28th has been chosen for the sake of identification)

Age: 15

Sex: Female

Asset Name: The Black Widow

Note: Natasha was a transfer. She was traded by the Red Room, who initially kidnapped her as an orphaned toddler in Russia, in exchange for another asset. Natasha was and extremely skilled and deadly Russian assassin who knows hundreds of ways to kill a person with minimal effort. She can speak both Russian and English fluently. Natasha has a prosthetic vibranium foot on her left leg due to HYDRA experimentation. Natasha is on medication to combat symptoms of OCD. (Later officially diagnosed with PTSD and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder- OCD)

File 3, Version 1.0

Name: Clint Barton

Birthdate: June 18th

Age: 15

Sex: Male

Asset Name: Hawkeye

Notes: Clint was an orphan who had ran away from his orphanage to join the circus when he was a child. One day, Clint was kidnapped from the circus troupe he lived with as a kid and was forcibly recruited into HYDRA as an assassin. Clint is exceptionally talented with a bow and arrow. He was an archery based assassin, and he is known for almost NEVER missing his targets. Experimentation by HYDRA lead to the permanent loss of 80% of his hearing abilities (Later officially diagnosed as deafness). He is however, hearing aide compatible, knows sign language, and can speak perfectly fluent English. Clint also has mental health issues related to HYDRA's mind control methods. (Later officially diagnosed with PTSD, deafness, and a non-specific anxiety disorder)

File 4, Version 1.0

Subnote: This files covers two people because of the circumstances behind when they joined HYDRA.

Name1: Steve Rodgers

Name2: James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes

Birthdate1: July 4th

Birthdate2: March 10th

Age1: 116 (Physically) / 16 (Mentally and by memory)

Age2: 117 (Physically) / 17 (Mentally and by memory)

Sex1: Male

Sex2: Male

Asset Name1: Captain America

Asset Name2: The Winter Soldier

Notes: Steve and Bucky were both soldiers during World War 2. They lied about their age in order to join the army. Steve and Bucky were given a serum that gave them various physical enhancements while in the American army. Steve was formerly colorblind, but the serum cured him of this quirk. The results of a battle lead to both men being frozen alive together for nearly 70 years. They did not age during this time period. They were later located and unfrozen by HYDRA, and forcibly recruited for their cause. Bucky now has a vibranium arm while Steve has a Vibranum hand. Both prosthetics are fully functional, and bend move and bend just like regular limbs. Steve's weapon of choice is a vibranium shield, which he wields as an offensive weapon. Bucky worked as an assassin. Bucky has mental health problems due to the mind control methods HYDRA used to turn him into the Winter Soldier. He also suffers a specific phobia of being frozen alive again. Bucky, as the Winter Soldier, was forced to assassinate the parents of fellow Avengers member Tony Stark. Bucky and Steve were also forced to kidnap Tony for HYDRA. (Bucky was later officially diagnosed with PTSD, specific phobia, and a specific anxiety disorder). Steve was also a victim of mind control and also has the same phobia as Bucky, as well as other mental health problems. (Steve was later officially diagnosed with PTSD, a specific anxiety disorder, and a specific phobia).

Subnote 2: Bucky and Steve are also mentioned in File Number 8

File 5, Version 1.0

Name: Sam Wilson

Birthdate: September 23rd

Age: 16

Sex: Male

Asset Name: The Falcon

Notes: Sam was abducted by HYDRA from an airport terminal as a child when his parents were not paying attention. Sam's parents did not notice their son was missing before they boarded their flight, and they did not get to report him as such to the police because they died in a plane crash that same day. Sam was then forcibly recruited into HYDRA. Sam gained some telepathic ability to control birds due to HYDRA experimentation. Sam occasionally experiences headaches when he overuse these abilities. Sam is also able to use detachable mechanical wings that give him the ability to fly. The wing ports are permanently embedded into his back, also due to HYDRA experimentation. The ports occasionally limit his mobility and have lead to some scoliosis. Sam's main role in HYDRA was as a field agent, but sometimes his connection with birds was used for spying.(Officially diagnosed with PTSD and scoliosis)

File 6, Version 1.0

Name: James "Rhodey" Rhodes

Birthdate: October 8th

Age: 17

Sex: Male

Asset Name: War Machine

Notes: Rhodey grew up as the son of two Air Force pilots. He constantly moved with his family from place to place. He was forcibly recruited into HYDRA after agents infiltrated the military base he lived at and kidnapped him. HYDRA staged the kidnapping as an accidental death so his parents never knew he was alive. Rhodey's parents were later deployed to Afghanistan and were killed in combat. Rhodey has physical mobility problems in his legs due to HYDRA experimentation. This is mostly counteracted by leg braces. Rhodey was a HYDRA soldier who specialized in aviation and weaponry. He has a pilots license that he got officially validated after his escape from HYDRA. (Officially diagnosed with PTSD and nerve damage of the legs)

File 7, Version 1.0

Name: Virginia "Pepper" Potts

Birthdate: April 10th

Age: 14

Sex: Female

Asset Name: Rescue

Notes: Pepper has a chip implanted in her body that allows her to have minor technopathic abilities depending on the machinery she is working with. This consequently lead to her developing nerve damage in her left hand that occasionally causes twitching and tremors. A hand brace style glove does a decent job of stabilizing this problem. Pepper's role in HYDRA was the extraction and/or elimination of compromised or injured HYDRA members. She originally joined HYDRA after the rest of her family was killed in a house fire. She was left as the only survivor, but HYDRA stole her from the hospital two days later and altered her medical records to make it appear as though she also died due to complications from the fire. Pepper has good computer skills and often was forces to hack different devices for spying purposes. (Officially diagnosed with PTSD and nerve damage of the hand)

File 8, Version 1.0

Name: Anthony Howard "Tony" Stark

Birthdate: May 29th

Age: 14

Sex: Male

Asset Name: Iron Man

Notes: Tony Stark is a child genius who was orphaned after HYDRA ordered fellow Avenger Bucky to assassinate his verbally abusive and neglectful father, in a car crash incident that lead to the death of both of his parents. Bucky and fellow Avenger Steve (Who was there on orders but did not take part in the actual act of assassination, and who at the time was also under mind control) then kidnapped Tony and brought him to HYDRA, where he was forcibly recruited. Tony worked to design and build HYDRA's weapons. HYDRA cooperated with a terrorist group known as the Ten Rings in order to experiment on Tony. One such experiment lead Tony getting shrapnel put into his heart. In order to keep him alive, the Ten Rings surgically inserted an electromagnet connected to an Arc Reactor into his chest that keeps the shrapnel from killing him. Tony needs daily medication in order to counteract the potential for palladium poisoning caused by the Arc Reactor and magnet. The medicine is provided to him for free by the government. When he turns 18 years old, Tony will become eligible for heart transplant surgery. Tony is also the legal heir of the Stark Industries weapon and technology company, but currently cannot assume ownership until he turns 18 years of age. (Officially diagnosed with PTSD, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder-ADHD, specific heart condition, and Palladium Poisoning.)

Yeah the start of their story was definitely tragic, but they weren't doing too badly. After the whole escape from the foster system, the whole group managed to get themselves classified as emancipated adults as long as they agreed to live together at least until everyone in their group was 18. They had no problem with this. Tony was given access to a portion of his rightful inheritance when he was discovered to be alive again, but the current CEO of his father's company wasn't letting him have more. In fact the guy was evil, and he was trying to stop Tony from legally taking ownership of the company upon his 18th birthday. Tony would have to figure out how to get him arrested one day. For now though, Tony had used the money he got to buy a used pickup truck... and the building that the Avengers lived in. The avengers used their skills, and a lot of building materials gathered from dumpster diving and scavenging the scrap yards in New Jersey to renovate the place. The actual building was a loft style apartment complex. It was actually really cool.

Tony was the main designer for the project. Tony took a couple of apartment units and turned them into the living quarters, leaving plenty of space for new potential members in his wake. He managed to make it feel like a communal living space, with all of the apartment doors converging into a common area, complete with beat up couches gathered from the side of the road and altered to fit their needs. He knocked done a few walls on some other floors and turned them into a gym area, some office space, a mechanic's garage, a couple of science labs, a nurses office where they patched up injuries after missions, and the coolest common room EVER. He also had a secret edible garden put in up on the roof, which was fully edible. They never starved with all of those fruits, roots, herbs, spices, and vegetables growing up there. Tony even managed to put a larger version of the Arc Reactor into the building in order to give them all free power that was clean for the environment. His personal favorite part however, was the firemen's pole that connected every single floor together. He even had JUST enough money to get a few laptop (and one desktop) computers put in so that everyone could go to school and get carriers one day like normal people. However, Tony realized that the outside of the building could not be renovated if they wanted to keep a low profile and conceive what money they had. Tony needed to save that money for taking down HYDRA. So the outside of the building continued to look rundown and abandoned, and Avengers spent their days finishing high school and doing odd jobs to make money when they weren't on "missions" battling against Hydra. Honestly, their budget was kinda low. The Avengers were pretty poor. They relied on trash and scavenging runs, and sometimes pawn shops, to get things they needed. They even occasionally had to dumpster dive fur food if their crops went bad or if they just ran out. They WERE teenagers after all, and teenagers ate a lot. Plus Steve and Bucky had advanced metabolisms that required them to eat way more than what a normal person would need. Sometimes there just weren't enough crops on the roof to feed the former super soldiers without leaving the rest of them hungry. So dumpsters, kindhearted employers and restaurant workers, and soup kitchens became their friends. But they needed to finish their education if they wanted to improve their lives.

So they decided to go to school. The geniuses were going to help everyone with their homework so it didn't take up too much of their time. Tony and Bruce finally managed to get themselves enrolled for the coming semester completely online at MIT after earning their GEDs last year. They even managed to get in paying completely through financial aid and scholarship money. Bruce was going to start working towards another doctorate, and Tony was double majoring in business and mechanical engineering. Everyone else was about to start their freshman year of high school in three months at a place called the SHIELD Technical Academy, or STA. They had all received free scholarships to the school from the government. They had no idea why THEY were chosen, but they weren't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. No one knew what the meaning of the name was. Since they had graduated from high school with GEDs already Tony and Bruce offered their services as paid school tutors in order to make money, AND stay connected with their friends. The other were all starting together as freshmen despite their age differences. They had plans to pilfer nearly expired cleaning products out of the janitors closet so they could clean their home, and to raid the refrigerators in the cafeteria for food that was set to expire. When the Avengers weren't getting ready for school or hunting down HYDRA cells, they worked whatever jobs the group could find, but there wasn't much they could do since most of them were still under 16. The ones that WERE at or over 16 had trouble finding legal work because of their lack of proper records or college degrees. They did whatever they could without stealing.

At least they were able to get new clothes and shoes for almost nothing when one of them worked a shift at Goodwill. Sam actually managed to score their slightly cracked, but really big, TV that way. Tony managed to link the TV to the internet by building his own super high speed WiFi router out of scavenged parts and connecting their TV to another laptop that Bucky dug out of the dumpster (which Tony then repaired) and using YouTube to entertain everyone without pirating movies. The TV even had a DVD player build in. Sometimes Bruce borrowed the free DVD movies available to take from the public library for all of them to watch when they had a night off.

Tony really could do amazing things with scavenged parts. The dumpster behind tech stores were a great place to find spare parts. He actually managed to repair a multitude of previously broken "beyond repair" cellphones and headphones and give them to his teammates. They might have been a few models behind the latest trends, but they worked. They couldn't really afford cell service plans, but they could use internet chat sights and messenger apps to text each other if they needed to, and that was all they needed. They did have an old corded phone if they REALLY needed to actually call someone. Mostly they just used the number on the corded phone as their home number for school documents and job applications.

They had to be cleaver about getting water. They couldn't really afford to pay water bills after all, so they basically stockpiled a ton of the bottled stuff so they weren't drinking out of the tap all the time. They sold the leftover empty bottles to a recycling plant in New Jersey for extra cash. This usually turned into gas money, also with whatever loose change they found on the sidewalk. They got around wasting water for showers, (and their ONE dishwasher, which had been preinstalled before they ever lived there inside Natasha's apartment) by cleverly utilizing the community bathroom. Yes their apartment building had a community bathroom system. They had no idea why it had been designed that way, but it honestly wasn't that bad. They split the different parts of the bathroom between the boys and the girls, marking them off with paint to differentiate them. Anyway, Tony managed to finagle with the plumbing guys in charge of providing water for New York City to get them to connect the apartment to a public water source, claiming that is was considered to be a public bathroom since they all shared it.

It made their lives a lot easier, even if they did wind up having to use cheap flip flops from the dollar store for shower shoes... and occasionally share shampoo.

Dumpster diving for parts wasn't always fun. When Tony needed to repair the AC or the heater when the weather was rough, it could get REALLY miserable looking for parts in dumpsters and scrap yards. However, they did what they had to do to live in New York without a stable income.

Bruce managed to get a day job at the nearest hospital. No one would let him treat the patients before he turned 18, but he was able to hoard spare medical supplies and obtain a first aid kit for the apartment this way, which was very helpful after their HYDRA hunting missions.

They didn't have a lot of money, but they were honestly pretty happy. They didn't think their lives could get any better... but one fateful mission would start the process of proving all of them wrong.

They were in a secret passage in the New York City Subway tunnels tracking down a HYDRA cell. They had heard rumors from some of the more unsavory characters that stalked the back aisles between buildings that there was potential HYDRA activity down here. The Avengers were excited to go on a mission because it had been quiet for awhile. Even Tony was here, a homemade "repulsers" on his hands and light weight jet boots on his feet. They were in a moldy smelling passageway sneaking along in the dark when they came upon a maintenance door. Steve smirked.

"I think this is it. The secret entrance is right behind this door." Steve looks at Bucky.

"Buck can you break it down?" Bucky nods and punches the door with his prosthetic arm. They all go inside and look around. The first thing they see is a long hallway lined with doors and HYDRA insignia painted on the walls. The group sneaks in. Clint turns up his hearing aides as loud as they can go. The locks were turnstile combination style. He looks back at the others.

"Let's open up the doors and look for possible victims. I can use my hearing aides to listen for clicks to pick the locks." Clint got to work on the doors. They didn't find anyone in the first few doors, but then they got to a door where they heard crying coming from the other side. Everyone's eyes widened and Clint worked faster. The moment they opened that door, their lives changed forever.

Inside the room were four people, two teenage boys, a teenage girl, and a boy who couldn't have been older than 10, all bound in handcuffs. The occupants were all battered and bruised. The girl and one of the boys were clutching each other. The young boy was sitting in the corner crying. The other teenage boy appeared to be unconscious. He looked like one of his eyes had been ripped out. The Avengers knocked on the doorframe to gain everyone's attention. The three occupants who were conscious all looked up and shrunk back against the walls. The girl looked like she hadn't fully heard the knock. The teen she clutched held her tighter. The child in the corner... well he actually jumped... and stuck to the wall. The girl finally looked at the group. She was speaking but she was also using ASL handsigns.

"Who... who ARE you!? You're not our handlers! Have we done something ELSE wrong!?" Clint responded in voice AND ASL.

"Please don't be afraid. We don't wanna hurt you. We aren't HYDRA agents... well not anymore anyway. My name is Clint Barton, but my asset name is Hawkeye. We are the Avengers. We are a group of escapees that want to destroy HYDRA and avenge it's victims. Come with us! We can help you! We can set you FREE!" The girl and the boy looked at each other. After a moment they nodded to each other then looked at the boy on the wall. The boy looked at them and slowly got off the wall. He approached the Avengers slowly.

"They... they call me Spider-Man as an asset name, but my real name is Peter Parker. I have spider powers, but they make me REALLY REALLY sensitive to the environment. I don't like loud things. I'm also pretty smart. My friends over there are Wanda Maximoff and Vision. They call Wanda Scarlet Witch. She has telepathy and magic power. Her hearing is not quite right, but she can hear SOME things. Vision doesn't have another name. He's the one clutching Wanda. He can fly and do other cool stuff. Vision is Mute, but he can hear you good. We... we don't know who the other guy is. They just threw him in here this morning, but he looks like he's been in HYDRA for awhile. I think he might be blind. He's sparky... like static electricity. Will you please help him too? He looked SOOO sad earlier before he passed out." Tony smiled and kneeled down in front of the kid.

"I'm Tony Stark. They called me Iron Man. We're gonna help all of you." Tony took out his scuffed up second hand Swiss Army knife and used it to take apart the handcuffs on Peter as carefully as possible. Pepper and Rhodey came over to them. Pepper spoke up.

"I'm Pepper Potts. My asset name is Rescue. This is our friend Rhodey. His asset name is War Machine. We're gonna take all of you home and patch up everything that's hurt ok?" Peter nodded. Sam and Natasha went over to Wanda and Vision. Natasha used ASL and spoken language.

"My name is Natasha Romanoff. Asset name Black Widow. This is my friend Sam Wilson. His asset name is the Falcon. We're gonna set you guys free and let our other friends take care of all four of you. You can stay with us. We have plenty of room at our home." Sam and Natasha broke through the cuffs on Wanda and Vision after they nodded their consent. Bruce, Steve, and Bucky went over to the unconscious boy. Bruce noticed that the boy was waking up. Bruce spoke up.

"Hey you... ummm... I don't know your name. Can you hear me?" The boy sat up with a groan. He wore a nervous expression.

"Who are you? I can't see anything and I don't recognize your voice. You're not my handler." Bruce sighed sadly.

"My name is Dr. Bruce Banner. My asset name is the Hulk, but I'm not a current HYDRA agent. In fact I'm not the only non-HYDRA person here, but there's a lot of US and not a lot of time to explain. What's your name?" The boy took a moment to consider talking before he spoke in a sad, shameful voice.

"My asset name is the Static Slayer, but my true name is Thor Odinson." Bruce raised an eyebrow even though Thor couldn't see it.

"Thor? Like the patron god of thunder from the Norse Mythology stories? Were your parents just interested in the myths... or are you saying you're ACTUALLY Thor. " Thor nodded.

"They aren't ALL myths. Some of that information is true. The people in those stories are not a fantasy. They are REAL! I am the true Thor, the prince and patron of thunder from the legends, and I really am from the realm of Asgard. Me, my parents, Asgard, my... my brother Loki," Thor looked saddened when mentioning his brother "...we all exist, though not in the exact way you imagined us and our realm. I am essentially an alien from another planet... a foreigner to your world." Thor suddenly looked embarrassed. "Sorry... I didn't mean to ramble about unnecessary information." Bruce was amazed.

"Are you kidding!? That stuff is AMAZING! I've always wanted to meet being from other worlds if they really existed! And the fact that you're Thor... man you're a living legend! When we have more time we would LOVE to hear more about you!" Thor smiled.

"Thank you. You are kind. I haven't felt such kindness in many months. Please tell me why you have come here?" Bruce was encouraged by Thor's cooperation.

"We're with a group called the Avengers. We're all essentially child soldiers...Ex-HYDRA agents who escaped and decided to come together to try to destroy HYDRA and avenge their fallen victims. We're here because we were looking for prisoners to free from a hidden HYDRA bunker we heard might be around here." Thor looked surprised.

"You... you're all like me?" Bruce responded with a determined expression.

"Yes we are. Tell me Thor, I know that you're not from our world, but to me you seem like the kind of guy who believes in justice for all, no matter what species is being mistreated. So...do you want to be free of HYDRA?" Thor sat up straighter.

"I do." Bruce kept going.

"Do you want to take down HYDRA once and for all so that they can't make any more children like us into their mutilated victims ever again?" Thor nodded seriously.

"Yes... I do. I want to eliminate HYDRA so that they cannot hurt this world or it's people ever again! I want to stop then from taking what doesn't belong to them! I want to stop them from taking innocent lives!" Bruce smirked to himself.

"That's exactly what WE, the Avengers team, want to do as well. You can help if you join our team, though we won't force you to do so. What do you say Thor, do you and your cell mates wanna get out of here and help us do all of that?" Thor put out his hands like he was trying to find where Bruce was located. Bruce put his hand in between both of Thor's. Thor looked surprised for a moment before he squeezed Bruce's hand gently with both of his and put his serious expression back on.

"I don't know about anyone else I was locked up with, but as for me...Yes... yes I do. Lead the way Dr. Bruce Banner. If you get me out of here, I promise to lend whatever aid I can give to the Avengers to defeat HYDRA forever." Steve and Bruce helped Thor stand. Bucky broke apart Thor's cuffs. Thor looked confused and turned his head towards where he assumed the new people were. Buck spoke up.

"My name is Bucky Barnes. Asset name is the Winter Soldier. I'm here to help. Thank you for agreeing to help us Thor." Steve also chimed in.

"My name is Steve Rodgers. My asset name is Captain America. I'm the team leader. Welcome to the Avengers Thor." Natasha and Sam looked at Wanda and Vision and helped them stand. Natasha spoke next.

"How about you guys? You want in?" Wanda and Vision both signed Yes. Natasha smirked. "Well then you're in. Welcome to the Avengers Wanda and Vision." Tony, Clint, and Pepper looked at Peter. Tony spoke now.

"How about you Peter? Wanna help us take down the bad guys that did this to all of you?" Peter nodded yes.

"Yeah I do Stark sir! I wanna use my powers for good! I wanna defeat HYDRA!" Tony smirked.

"Well then kid, looks like you're an Avenger now. Welcome to the team!" Peter smiled so brightly that everyone else in the room that could see it couldn't help but smile with him. Steve spoke up again.

"We need to get out of here before we get caught. Let's evacuate the premises and get our new teammates back to HQ for medical treatment." The other original Avengers agreed. They all moved to help assist the now freed prisoners out of the bloody cell and down the hall. Bucky just held Peter on his hip with his prosthetic arm. They were almost back at the entrance when an album sounded and the door began to close. Sam let out a shout.

"STEVE THE DOOR!" Steve used his prosthetic hand to throw his shield and jam it in the opening between the door and the door frame. He then addressed everyone else.

"LET'S MOVE! ON THE DOUBLE!" The entire group began running for the door. Peter clutched Bucky tightly. Wanda's eyes started to glow red. Vision remained stoic but ran faster. Thor actually looked scared. He was afraid he would trip and fall because he couldn't see where he was going. Bruce noticed and realized why.

"Don't think about tripping Thor! Just run as fast as you can! I've got you right here! If you fall we'll catch you! Trust me!" Thor gulped and nodded his consent. They all made it to the door. Steve ducked under his shield and held the door open further. Everyone rushed through just before the HYDRA agents showed up and started shooting. The Avengers, both original and new, all ran without looking back. They eventually reached a ladder for a manhole cover. Sam flew up and popped it open.

"Everyone climb up!" Peter climbed onto Bucky's back and let Bucky climb for him. Everyone but Bruce, Thor, Wanda, and Vision climbed up after Bucky. Wanda spoke to Thor very loudly because she didn't know what her volume was at the moment.

"Hey Thor, my name is Wanda Maximoff. Asset name Scarlet Witch. Next to me is Vision. We were both in that cell with you, along with one other kid, before the Avengers rescued us. Vision would like to use his powers to fly you up the ladder so you don't need to climb." Thor flinched upon hearing distant gunshots, but still spoke to Wanda.

"I'll let him do it. Please hurry." Vision put an arm around Thor's waist. Thor managed to fumble with his hands until they were around Visions shoulders. Vision flew Thor up to the man hole then handed him up to Natasha and Pepper before flying through the hole himself. The two girls worked together to pull Thor up, then introduced themselves while waiting for Wanda and Bruce to Climb up. Clint notched an arrow and shot it through the hole before flipping the cover back over it. There was a small explosion underground. Once the sound stopped Clint released a breath.

"That arrow should have collapsed the tunnel after us. The Agents won't be able to get through for hours. We'll be long gone by then. Make sure none is us were bugged with tracking devices before we go back to HQ. Don't need HYDRA finding our base." Natasha made sure no one had a tracker on them. Tony then started walking.

"Come on. We gotta find the truck. Sam, you're driving this time. Natasha, call the cops and tip them off about this HYDRA cell location. Use the pay phone over there. I've only got 75 cents you can use so make it quick." Everyone started walking towards the pay phone. Thor spoke up with a nervous tone of voice.

"E-Excuse me... but I don't know where we are. I am not familiar with your planet's geography, and I don't know what state this is, or what country. I can hear a lot of noise, so I'm assuming we're in a city, but I don't know WHAT city this is. Can someone please tell me?" Pepper spoke up.

"We're in New York City, in the state of New York, located along the east coast of the United States of America. It's a very well known city in our world. We've all lived in this city for two years now, ever since we escaped HYDRA. We own a building not too far from here." Wanda and Vision started walking hand in hand. Steve noticed.

"Are you two dating?" Wanda smiled sadly at Steve.

"We are essentially. We were mission partners first though. We got put together right after we got out of experimentation labs. A few months later we were joined by Peter. My guess is that Thor was supposed to be our fourth member. We were due for a new one. Our fourth member WAS my brother Pietro but... he didn't survive our last mission." The others have looks of empathy and decided not to comment out of respect. They already knew enough. Peter looked excited.

"We're in New York!? Can we go to Queens!? We may be able to find my Uncle and Aunt there!" The group looked surprised and hopeful. Tony looked directly at Peter.

"Peter, we can't do it tonight, but I promise you that first thing tomorrow we will check the police records for a missing children's report on you and find out where your family is. If we can get you back home then we will! I PROMISE Peter!" Peter beamed again.

"Thank you ! Thank you so much!" Natasha put the coins Tony passed her into the phone booth and made the call to the police. Peter hoped down off of Bucky's shoulders and went over to Thor.

"Hi . I'm Peter Parker. My asset name is Spider-Man. I'm 10 years old! I was the other person in that cell with you, Miss Wanda, and Mr. Vision." Thor couldn't help but smile even as his eyes stared ahead at nothing.

"Hello Peter. It's nice to meet you." Peter and Thor shook hands.

"I'm sorry about your eyes . It's sad, but I think that now that we're free from HYDRA that we have a chance to be happy with our new friends!" Thor's smile widened.

"It's alright Peter. You know, I think you're right. We DO have a chance to be happy now... with our brand new teammates. Though I don't know how I'm going to fight HYDRA if I'm disabled." Sam scoffed.

"Please, ALL of us are disabled. I have metal wing ports permanently inserted into my back that limits my movements and gave me scoliosis. Bruce has Tourette's syndrome, plus he transforms into another creature called the Hulk. Natasha, Steve, and Bucky all have prosthetic limbs or parts of limbs. Natasha also has OCD Rhodey can't walk straight without leg braces. Tony has a heart condition and Palladium poisoning, PLUS ADHD, which is a mental disability to some people. Clint is mostly Deaf. Pepper has nerve damage issues in her hand. Wanda and vision have hearing and speech problems. Peter has sensory issues. If we can all get around THAT, then I think that we can figure out how to get you to fight with blindness." Tony chimed in.

"I can build you a bionic eye to replace the missing one. It probably won't fix your sight problem fully, but it may at least help you out somewhat." Thor smiled wider.

"Oh my friends, thank you so much! For so long I thought that there was nothing I could do to get away and fight back against HYDRA, but all of you have provided me with a second chance! You've given me back my hope again! I can't wait to get started!" Natasha finished her phone call and came back to the group.

"The call is in. The police will be raiding the HYDRA base in 15 minutes. Let's clear out." Peter gently tugged Thor's hand.

"I'll help you walk around without bumping into things ! Just keep holding my hand!" Thor chuckled.

"Thank you Peter. I trust you." The group kept walking until they were in an underground parking garage. Soon a beat up navy blue pickup truck came into view. Tony unlocked the truck and tossed the keys to Sam. He then looked at the others.

"Alright new people listen up! We have a system in place. The seats inside the passenger portion of the truck are on a first come first serve basis. Whoever doesn't get a passenger seat gets to sit in the bed of the truck. However I want Peter in an actual passenger seat. He looks way too young to be riding in the truck bed without a seatbelt. We could get in trouble with the cops if they catch him in a truck while not wearing one." The others laughed when Peter ran to the truck enthusiastically calling "SHOTGUN" with Thor in tow. Thor started freaking out thinking that someone was about to shoot them, until Clint explained that Peter was laying claim to the passenger seat that was up front next to the seat meant for the driver. However, Tony truck actually had three seats in the front instead of two, because the seats were in a 70s bench style, so Peter happily hopped in the middle seat. Thor was given the other front passenger seat because Peter thought it might scare Thor if he sat in the truck bed without a seatbelt there to stop him from thinking he might fall out since he couldn't see anything. Tony grumbled and said that one of these days he was going to install seatbelts in the truck bed because they had too many people to transport now. Clint, Bruce, and Pepper wound you in the three back seats. Natasha, Wanda, Vision, Rhodey, and Tony were in the bed of the truck. Tony pretended to complain about being in the truck bed when he owned the truck, but everyone else knew that Tony rode in the Truck bed on purpose because he loved how free he felt back there with the wind blowing in his face. The drive wasn't long, but it provided an amazing view of the City. Peter was trying to describe everything they were passing in explicit detail so Thor could form a mental picture of his surroundings. If actually cheered him up a bit. Soon they pulled up to the Avengers apartment building and parked the truck in the adjacent garage. Everyone unloaded from the truck. The newbies stood around in confusion, unsure what was going on. Steve spoke next.

"Alright everyone! Welcome to our headquarters! This is where we avengers live and train. We don't have a lot of money, the heater is constantly breaking down, almost everything we own and the parts for everything we have built were obtained through charity, pawn shop trades, dumpster diving, or scrap yard raids, and the building has a community bathroom setup, but we own the whole place, so there's complete privacy. There are also no adults. We live here completely alone as fully emancipated citizens of New York! We also have our own electricity and Wifi. It's honestly a pretty cool place once you get used to it, and we all work together to maintain our lifestyle in relative comfort. Now, if you're gonna be Avengers, then all of you are gonna receive your own rooms. Now apartments are all in loft style. They each include anywhere from 1 to 3 lofted bedrooms, a sitting area, and a kitchen. The lofts have sliding barn yard style doors and patch work curtains over the banisters that can be closed for privacy in the multi bedroom units. The apartments all have their front doors connected to our common room, which is further connected to the bathroom and the stairs to the other floors of the building. The common room includes a community kitchen for nights when we all feel like eating a meal together as a team. The bathroom has a boys side and a girls side. Boys and girls should not cross sides for privacy reasons. A lot of us have to share things like soap or shampoo sometimes, so please don't use too much at once. For now we're gonna let Bruce give you guys some first aid. You all look a little worse for ware and it's better to be safe than sorry when it comes to injuries inflicted by HYDRA. Once that's done we'll get your guys settled into your apartments. You can choose if you want to share a space, leave room for a possible future roommate, or if you want a unit all to yourself. After that we're going to make dinner for everyone, then we'll talk about what's going to happen in the next few days. We won't go into detail because you guys are probably COMPLETELY exhausted, but we'll cover the most important things tonight. Oh right the apartments. There is currently shared space available in Tony and Pepper's apartment. They are in a three bedroom unit with one vacant room. The other apartments are fully booked. Bruce, Natasha, and Clint have single bedroom apartments for themselves without any extra space. Rhodey and Sam share a two bedroom apartment. Bucky and I also have single apartments, but we installed an extra door in our apartment that connects our sitting rooms together, essentially making one big unit. We can do that for anyone that wants it. Can someone please help Thor choose which loft he wants? I don't know how well he can choose an apartment without being able to see his opinions." Thor spoke up.

"Actually, I think the best option for me would be a two or a three bedroom apartment. I want to keep it for myself for now... but there are some very important people I would like to find, and I would like for them to be able to visit, if no one minds. I understand if that's not likely to happen, or if you need the space for other people." Tony spoke up.

"Nah I get it! Thor buddy, we have PLENTY of space. Tell you what, we have a two bedroom apartment available, but the rooms have two beds in each. The second beds in each room are Murphy bed style. Basically, they can be folded over and stored inside the cabinets mounted to the walls for extra space when they're not being used. There's also a trundle bed built inside the sofa that can fit an additional guest or two. Tony made that one himself. He was bored and decided to experiment with some furniture he found on the side of the road. This way you can keep your floor space if you can't find everyone you're looking for. Is that ok?" Thor looked ecstatic.

"That's perfect! Thank you so much... whichever one you are." Tony blinked.

"You're welcome. Oh by the way, I'm Tony Stark. My asset name is Iron Man." Thor smiled.

"Thank you. I will try to remember your voice so I can recognize you in the future." Pepper suddenly got a weird look on her face.

"Guys if we can't find his family and it turns out thar Peter DOES need to live here, then I don't know if Peter should have a whole apartment to himself. I mean he's still a child." Clint interjected.

"So are almost all of us technically Pepper." Pepper shook her head.

"Yeah Clint but we're all emancipated. Peter is WAY too young to be living completely independently. I think he should share with someone." Tony spoke up.

"Why not with us then Pep? We have an extra room in our place, and this way he would have not one, but TWO of us supervising him. Plus he'll still get his own actual ROOM you know? We can always link the common room to the empty three bedroom apartment next to ours like Steve and Bucky have theirs if Peter wants an individual space when he's older." Peter gasped and started jumping up and down in excitement.

"Oh oh Miss Pepper PLEEEEAAAASSEE let me stay with you!? I'll be good and do all my chores and go to bed on time and everything! Pretty please!?" Pepper giggled.

"Alright alright! It's ok Peter, you can take our third bedroom for yourself." Peter squealed in delight.

"Thank you Thank you Thank you! This is gonna be AWESOME!" Rhodey spoke next.

"Well that's two out of four people sorted. We just need Wanda and Vision sorted." Wanda spoke and signed at the same time again.

"Is there a single bedroom apartment with two beds? Vision and I want to stay together, but we don't want separate rooms." Rhodey nodded.

"Yeah there's a single bedroom unit with an extra Murphy bed like the ones in Thor's place. That should work right?" Wanda smiled.

"Yes! Thank you! Vision says thank you too!" Vision nodded and smiled. Bruce spoke up now.

"How do you know what Vision is thinking when he doesn't use ASL?" Wanda raised her hand. A red mist spilled out.

"I have magic. It gives me a lot of abilities, including the ability to telepathically communicate. It's easier with Vision than some other people because of the nature of his own powers. I can send mental messages to Peter too. It's pretty useful!" Peter smiles and nods.

"Yeah! Wanda's Magic is super cool! " Steve smiles and speaks up again.

"Well now that the apartments are sorted, it's time to patch you guys up! Rhodey, would you mind going to the corner store and seeing if you can score a pack of those discount toothbrushes and toothpaste? I think we have enough floss around here so you shouldn't need any of that. Some deodorant and hairbrushes too. The rest of you please either clean up the apartments, start dinner, or search through your drawers for some clothes that you don't want anymore for our new teammates. We can expand their closets later. For now they just need something for tonight and tomorrow." All of the original Avengers ran off to do what they were tasked with. Bruce waved to the new avengers again.

"The rest of you follow me please. We have a makeshift nurses office where we treat our mission injuries. Believe it or not, I'm a REAL medical doctor. I'm what you would call child prodigy. I earned my medical degree under HYDRA. I also have two other doctorates. I'm actually gonna go for a fourth doctorate pretty soon! Anyway, come this way." They followed him, Wanda guiding Thor. The new Avengers who could see were amazed at the structure of the building as the walked through everything. They were especially impressed with the mural of New York City (Steve painted that out of whatever paint he could scrounge up. He also had landscape designs decorating all the apartment doors.) that covered the common room walls. Well, everyone except a certain Asgardian. Thor sighed.

"I wish I could see this for myself. It sounds beautiful, but I have no way to enjoy it." Wanda squeezed his hand.

"Don't worry Thor. Even if you can't see, we will find a way to help you interact with the world, starting with teaching you to read in braille." Thor cocked his head to the side in confusion.

"Did you just say READ? As in you think that I actually CAN without functioning eyes?" Bruce interjected.

"Braille doesn't use your eyes. It uses a system of bumps and lines printed on special paper. You use Braille by feeling the texture of the bumps and lines of the paper with your fingers. The lines and bumps represent letters and words. I've heard you can write with this system too. Teaching Thor Braille is a really good idea Wanda! It can help him learn more about our world! We might even be able to get free books from the American printing house for the blind!" Wanda addressed Bruce's thanks while Thor just kept a surprised expression on his face.

"My brother Loki loves to read. He was always telling me that I had a bright mind and could do great things if I just applied myself. Maybe now I still have a chance to do that. Maybe I can contribute something useful to this team after all!" The others smiled and encouraged Thor as they entered the nurses office.

Two and a half hours later and the new Avengers were bandaged, groomed, and in clean clothes. All of the beds in their new apartments had a random hodgepodge of mismatched sheets, pillows, and blankets, and were ready to be lived in now. Rhodey did very well at the store. The owner was compassionate to the Avengers because they were all polite and kind hearted kids who once saved him from getting robbed. The own heard that they got four new members and gave Rhodey the supples they needed at no charge, throwing in four pairs of shower shoes at no additional charge. Rhodey didn't want to feel like he was taking advantage of the shop owner, so he bought a four pack of those loupha bath sponges for the new avengers to shower with, and some blueberry scented kids shampoo for Peter. After learning about the blinded Asgardian Prince, the store owner also convinced Rhodey to buy an eye patch and some cheep sunglasses for Thor at a discounted price. Thor was very grateful for this and placed it over his currently dressed and packed empty eye socket. It was determined that Thor was initially blinded in both eyes during an experiment by snake venom that supposedly had magical properties, but that his now missing eye was removed because it had sustained too much damage. It had been melted through. The other eye had no chance of naturally healing, but was intact enough to keep. Thor had told his story about how HYDRA found him first.

"I was banished to your planet Earth because my father Odin was punishing me for making a reckless mistake and nearly staring a war with another realm. At the time we also discovered that my brother Loki had been adopted FROM that realm. Asgard is racist towards Loki's birth realm. Loki had a major identity crisis and wound up killing his biological father, sending a metal monster known as the destroyer to kill me, and attempting to use the bifrost to destroy his birth planet at some point. While I was on Earth I learned about patience and compassion by my new friends Darcy Lewis and Jane Foster. They were students at a boarding school in a place called New Mexico. They helped me realize what I had done wrong and helped me to become a better person. At the time my powers had been locked away due to a spell that my father placed on Mjölnir, which is my hammer. Because of the lessons taught to me by Darcy and Jane I regained my powers. Once I did my Asgardian friends came and told me that Loki was being punished for his actions. They said he was regretful of his actions and that he wanted to see me one more time and apologize for his actions against me before he was sent to prison. I told them I would come home the next day after trying to help clean up the damage done to that town in New Mexico that the destroyer wrecked, However, after saying goodbye to Jane and Darcy and getting lost while trying to relocate the bifrost sight my asgardian friends arrived at the previous day, I was knocked unconscious. Apparently I was kidnapped. I believe that my hammer was buried in the dessert back in New Mexico or something because no one could move it. Otherwise they would have utilized it on me. Anyway, I lost all sense of awareness as the were dragging me into a vehicle of some sort. The next thing I knew I was waking up strapped down to a lab table with most of my hair cut off getting tortured by scientists experimenting on me. HYDRA mostly used my electrical powers for infiltration. They made me short circuit or turn on various forms of technology so they could break into places and steal information. Sometimes they used their mind control to make me torment or kill people. This went on for two years. I hated every second of it. The only consolation was that I became very good at sensing the electrical signals that run through everything. Recently I managed to break the mind control after an unexpected surge in my power. They put me back in the experimentation labs right after that. I don't know why they did what they did to my eyes, but I can tell you that it hurt like he11." Thor had taken another sip from the slightly chipped mug of tea he was drinking while Tony asked him if he wanted to try to go back to his family in Asgard. Thor shook his head.

"I miss my home and family, but I am unable to return to them, otherwise I would have been rescued FAR sooner than I was. HYDRA must have managed to hide my location from the eyes of Heimdall somehow. Heimdall is the guardian of the bifrost, which is a magical bridge that we usually use to travel between realms. Whatever is doing this probably can't be lifted until I return to Asgard, which I can't do without someone from Asgard tracking me down first. It's possible that they think I simply died. I feel terrible about not being able to reconcile with my brother. We have a complicated relationship, but I know that we love each other dearly. I miss him so much. I wish I could tell him that I'm alive, but if I do then I will have to admit that I am now permanently blind. He may very well blame himself since he had a small part in accidentally causing my banishment, which eventually lead to my capture by HYDRA. The thought of his sadness and guilt breaks my heart. All I can really do though is hope that I'll find a way back to him some day, if he doesn't find me first. For now, I would like to find my friends from New Mexico, Darcy and Jane. I promised them I would visit, but I have been unable to because of HYDRA. I hope they will be able to visit me here in New York some day. They were always very accepting of me. I trust them not to think of me differently now that I can't see." Peter went next.

"I was kidnapped right after my parents died. They were killed in a plane crash that I somehow survived. HYDRA pulled me from the records. I got bit by a radioactive spider during the experiments. It wasn't fun. I was a HYDRA agent for two years. HYDRA used me in the field a lot. On the last mission they wanted me to do... SOMETHING bad. I didn't want to do it, but they made me do it anyway. I tried to say no, but apparently they were mad about that so they locked us all up in cell, and Pietro died. I wanna do things differently now." Wanda spoke for both her and Vision.

"I was kidnapped and manipulated into joining HYDRA with my brother Pietro after our hometown was destroyed in war. We were agents for a total of 4 years, Vision for 3. The scientists messed with my ears so that certain frequencies are inaudible for me to detect. Pietro actually lost his sense of taste and smell. HYDRA convinced my brother and I that the blame was on Stark Industries, who had manufactured the weapons used in the attack on our town in Sokovia that killed our parents, and they tasked us with bringing Stark Industries down. Peter didn't have this goal, but he was put on our team because he was easy to work with. HYDRA used us for a lot of combat combat missions. Peter joined us a year after Vision did. Peter has super strength and a strange sort of 6th sense that alerts him to danger, so he was our muscle, and our lookout. My brother's asset name was Quicksilver. He had superhuman speed. Vision... Vision is basically a cyborg, but he is a cyborg with no vocal cords. His powers allow him to maintain a human appearance, but what you see now isn't what he actually looks like. He was artificially created during an experiment using a combination of a relic they found called the mind stone and an old Artificial intelligence program created by Tony while he was still working for HYDRA. I think you called the AI unit JARVIS?" Thor interjected.

"I think my lightning may have also been used in Vision's creation, but I can barely remember it." Wanda looked sadly at Tony.

"Tony, I am SO sorry. I swear that I didn't realize until later that none of it was your fault. Viz and I were in that holding cell because we, along with Pietro and Peter, disobeyed orders on our last mission, which resulted in Pietro's death. We actually tried to run away, but they caught and kidnapped all of us again. Well I guess that was the first time for Vision. Anyway, once we were recaptured were were told that we were set to be reprogrammed along with Peter within a new four person team. Again, Thor was probably meant as the fourth member. I think they wanted him to connect to us while we were all completely lucid before using their brain washing methods to make us into the perfect mission squad. I'm glad you all saved up before that happened. We don't want to be in HYDRA anymore. We want to HELP people now, not hurt them. You've all given us a chance to do that. Thank you." All of the information stated was being recorded so that they could us it to edit the new Avengers' files tomorrow. While dinner was being served the group continued to talk. Natasha decided to explain the diagnostic analyzation process that would happen tomorrow.

"When we were all found after our escape from HYDRA, we were brought to a government facility that created our legal medical and citizenship records for us so we could legally live in New York. The facility doesn't have an official name, so we just call it 'the compound'. They're government sanctioned, but they're dedicated to protecting child soldiers like us. This facility also conducted physical and mental health evaluations on all of us the day we were brought in. They managed all of the lawyer stuff so we could live independently with no guardians. They even gave us our open carry weapon and firearm licenses so we could keep our guns and things. We had to sign ALOT of paperwork, but it was totally worth it. They even gave all of us our various physical and mental illness diagnoses too. The director of the facility, Philip Coulson, also provides Tony's heart medication and Natasha's OCD medication to us free of charge. The reason we're telling you about this place is because we need to bring you four there tomorrow for evaluation. They'll get you guys all sorted out so you can start getting the help you need for your disabilities. They can get hearing aides for Wanda, books that can teach Braille to Thor, and noise canceling headphones and sunglasses for Peter, as well as help us to possibly locate his family. They might be able to teach Vision an extra method of communication as well. I know it's a frightening thought to just trust the doctors and staff at the facility after everything HYDRA did to you, but these aren't the bad guys. Besides, if any of them try to hurt you, we'll be there to put them in their places, and to keep you all safe. We promise." The new avengers admitted that they were nervous, especially Thor, but they agreed to try it because they wanted to take this chance to get their lives back. Pepper decided to talk about school.

"We recently decided as a group that those of us that haven't already are going to try to finish high school. Tony and Bruce already earned their GEDs, and Bruce has college degrees already, so they don't need to go to high school. Instead they're going to college, and they're going to tutor students at our new high school for money, and so we can all interact with kids in our own age group. We want to be able to have successful carriers so we can make money and do something useful with our lives one day, but to do that we need to get educations. Hence why we are going to high school. The school we are going to is a combination middle and high school facility that accommodates students with physical and/or mental disabilities. It's called SHIELD Technical Academy. It's one of those schools that lets the students focus on a specific area of study to better prepare them for college. Those of us attending as students are starting as high school freshmen. If we get you guys into our school, the staff and the teachers may be able to help you guys learn how to adjust to living in the normal world with mental health conditions and disabilities. They might send you some of your school supplies early so you can catch up on what you need before school starts in autumn, which would really help us all out. We could even try to get Peter into the middle school if he can pass whatever tests the school needs to give to determine if he is eligible to start at the sixth grade level. That way he could still have daily contact with us even if he finds his family and goes to live with them again." The four new Avengers looked excited. They readily agreed to try to enter the school with the rest of the group. The rest of the time was spent learning the rules of community apartment living. After dinner everyone was told to go to bed by Steve and were guided over to their new rooms/apartments. They were all a little worried about how Thor would navigate his apartment without seeing anything, but he just told them all that he would probably be fine and would find someone if he needed help. Even so, Bruce crashed on Thor's sofa out of concern. Everyone was exhausted, and miraculously managed to sleep through the rest of the night.

The next morning was rather chaotic. Everyone (except Clint and Wanda, who couldn't fully hear what was happening at that moment) woke up to the sound of an old fireman's alarm bell. Thor actually fell out of bed from the shock of the sound and had to be helped up from the floor by Bruce. They decided to just not tell anyone it had happened, for now. After that Natasha and Vision woke up Clint and Wanda, and everyone in the Avengers apartments except Tony rushed to the common room. Wanda spoke first, confusion and alarm clearly evident in her voice and her handsigns.

"What's going on!? Vision said that there was a fire alarm or something!?" Wanda was given a low chuckle from Bucky as a response.

"That bell that was just ringing is not the fire alarm, but it's made from an old fireman's bell. The actual legal fire alarm has flashing lights accompanying it to accommodate people who can't hear it. To answer Vision's question, THAT was our morning wake up call! Tony put that in so we could all wake up at the same time on days when we have important stuff to do. You should get use to it because that's probably gonna be our alarm clock for school once Tony reprograms that timer making it ring." Peter rubbed his sleepy eyes.

"Why did ya ring the bell then? Is there an important thing?" Steve smiled and spoke up.

"Well we have to get you newbies to evaluations today, so that's important, but also, I made PANCAKES! BREAKFAST IS READY EVERYONE!" Everybody perked up at the mention of food. While everyone was getting in one to be served their pancakes by Steve, who insisted on handing out the plates out of politeness, Tony finally walked in just as he was putting his cellphone back in his pocket with a mug of coffee already in hand. Sam noticed this and decided to ask him about it.

"Well you're already busy this morning Tony! What's up? Were you messaging Coulson?" Tony sipped his coffee as he grabbed his plate from Steve and made his way to one of the couch's before responding.

"Yeah I was. I told him how we rescued four new Avengers from HYDRA last night and set up the evaluation appointments for today. We've got three hours to get there before we're late. You know Coulson. He HATES when we're late, so we better get going quickly. Everyone should eat and shower quickly. Oh yeah, the shower rules are as follows. The showers are available at a first come first serve basis with a few notable exceptions. We're gonna give you newbies first dibs on the showers this morning because you're all still technically injured and because it's your first morning at HQ. There are bottles of shampoo and soap and stuff already in each stall. Remember not to hog it because we're sharing it. Peter was treated with children's shampoo because Rhodey wanted him to have it. It's partly a test of his senses. Do not use Peter's shampoo without his permission. The girls have their shower stalls marked off by pink and purple shower curtains. Boys stalls have blue and green curtains. The same thing applies with the paint on the stall doors for the toilets. Don't break the system unless you're really desperate enough to incur the wrath of Natasha. Breaking the system seriously agitates her obsessive compulsive disorder tendencies. Don't pull too hard on the curtains because none of the curtain hooks match and the material is super cheep. We don't wanna rip them. The shower stalls themselves are double curtained. The first curtain blocks off an area where you can stash and change into your clothes while washing. The shower itself is behind the second curtain further back in the stall. There's a plastic chair for Rhodey in one specific shower because it's easier on his legs if he sits. Rhodey always gets dibs on that shower first, and that chair is NOT to be moved. Wanda, the same goes for one of the three girls showers for Natasha so she can remove her prosthetic if she wants, just so you know. The towels are all in the bathroom closet. Keep track of the towel you use because we only wash the towels once a week and we have a limited supply. You'll usually have to reuse your towels for a few days. Now we have a couple of repurposed dressers in the bathroom that we use as bathroom drawers. Sam assigned bathroom drawers to each of you. Inside you'll find your hygiene stuff and your shower shoes and sponges. They aren't labeled yet so you're gonna have to just memorize where they are for now. Um Sam where's Thor's drawer? He can't exactly see the difference between them." Sam swallowed a bite of his pancakes before responding.

"We can get to Peter's, Wanda's and Vision's drawers later. Thor your drawer is on the top right hand side of the very last set of dressers. Natasha tied a bandanna to the handle so you can feel where it is with your hands." Thor thanked Natasha before Sam continued where he left off.

"We use loupha sponges because we don't want to risk people getting sick from sharing traditional washcloths with each other. It sounds weird, but it's important. Do not share your sponge, your shaving razors, or your shower shoes with anyone. Period. Try to shower quickly so that everyone gets hot water to use. Anyone not showering first can do whatever the need to do at the sinks to safe time. Also, don't hog the sinks when brushing your teeth and stuff. We'll talk about cleaning and chores for the bathroom another day, so I think that's all for now. We should hurry up and finish breakfast quickly so we all have time to get ready. The facility is a 15 minute drive AT LEAST on a good day of traffic, but this is New York City, so traffic usually sucks. Also, whoever finishes their food first helps Steve wash the dishes. Let's get moving people!" Everyone eventually lost themselves in their breakfast. Thor was practically IN LOVE with the pancakes, claiming that they were his second favorite earth food after pop tarts. He was a little clumsy eating though. Vision wound up helping with dishes, with Clint supporting him so that he didn't overwork his injuries. The bathroom was soon a chaotic mess of people getting ready for the day. Bruce wound up teaching Thor how everything worked since the Asgardian was from another planet, couldn't see what he was doing, and didn't really remember much about the hygiene standards of HYDRA while under mind control. Thor wound up getting through showering and getting ready for the day just fine after a few clumsy fumbles, though he did trip over the edge of the shower stale frame, twice, and bump into the walls three times. Before anyone knew it they were loading up into the pick up truck with Bucky behind the wheel. The drive to the facility was uneventful. Once the group walked inside the front doors of the very cliche looking Manhattan office building Clint spotted a man in a suit and ran over with excitement.

"Mr. Coulson Mr. Coulson! It's so good to meet up with you again!" Coulson shook Clint's had with a confused smile.

"Really? Just meet up with me? What is my face not cool enough to make you wanna SEE me too?" Clint frowned.

"Sorry Mr. Coulson, but I'm trying not to make our new friend Thor feel bad. He's uh... well he's completely blind sir. I didn't wanna offend him by saying 'see' in front of him while he can't do that, you know?" Coulson looked sadly.

"I understand Clint. It's ok. I didn't mean to be offensive either. Now why don't you introduce me to your friends? Maybe Thor first?" Thor, who was wearing his sunglasses AND eyepatch today, stumbled over to where he heard Coulson's voice coming from.

"That would be me sir. My name is Thor Odinson. Thank you for taking the time to help me and my new friends. Also, I have no problem with other people using words to describe sight. I understand that it's just a part of regular speech. I apologize for how complicated my legal situation is going to be considering that I'm not exactly from around here, if you know what I mean." Coulson and Thor shook hands.

"The complications don't matter Thor. What matters is that you're a victim of HYDRA who needs our help, and we're going to give it to you. We can't help you return to your planet, but we can make your life while you're on Earth more bearable. We're here for all of you kids." Rhodey spoke up enthusiastically.

"Mr. Coulson guess what!? We're gonna go to school! Before last night's mission added four new members, we got accepted at SHIELD Technical Academy! Tony and Bruce are gonna act as tutors so they can still interact with us, and we can connect with other kids around our age! We were wondering if you could help our new members get into the school too?" Coulson looked extremely pleased, almost overly so, upon hearing Rhodey say the name of the school.

"Rhodey that's great! You're going to love it at your school! That's actually where I went to school, so I know from experience. Now I still need to meet Wanda, Vision, and Peter, then we can get started." Wanda and Vision walked over with their elbows interlocked.

"I'm Wanda. This is Vision. Vision says it's nice to meet you. So do I." Coulson shook both of their hands.

"It's nice to meet you both as well. We're gonna get all of you taken care of very soon. Now I REALLY need to speak with young Peter Parker. You see, someone is here to see him!" The Avengers all gasped in shock. Peter bounded over to Coulson quickly.

"Mr. Coulson I'm Peter! Who's here to see me sir!?" Coulson simply smiled and walked to a door, waving all the teenagers over to him. The others all followed him through it. Peter trailed behind the group, but once he crossed the threshold and spotted a kind looking woman with long hair he shouted out in shock and excitement.

"AUNT MAY!?" The women whipped her head over to look at Peter with a gasp. Tears rolled down her face as she and Peter ran to each other. May Parker cried for joy has she hugged Peter and buried her hand in his hair.

"PETER! OH YOU BEAUTIFUL PRECIOUS BOY! I MISSED YOU SO MUCH THESE LONG YEARS WHEN YOU WERE GONE! I'M SO HAPPY YOU'RE OK! I LOVE YOU PETER! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!" Literally everyone in the room, including the Avengers and the plethora or random people who worked at the facility milling about, were clapping and cheering at the reunion scene they were witnessing. Even Thor joined in on the cheering, happy to hear that young Peter was able to find his family again. Peter looked over at Tony.

"Mr. Stark look! You found my family! It's just like you promised to try to do! You did it ! Thank you! I'm so happy!" Tony smiled as May looked over at Tony and the Avengers.

"Thank you... thank you for giving me my nephew back to me!" Tony smiled and said that no thanks was needed because it was just the right thing to do. Peter and May hugged and cried for a solid five minutes before May looked Peter up and down.

"Peter, Mr. Coulson updated me on everything, and in light of everything you've been through... I need to tell you a few things." Peter nodded, not letting May go.

"Your Uncle Ben... he's not here anymore sweetie. He died while doing police work last month. I'm so sorry sweetheart. Your Uncle loved you more than life itself, and he never stopped believing that you were alive. He searched for you every single day ever since you disappeared. I just KNOW that he's smiling down on us from heaven, happy to know you're ok." Peter sniffled.

"I'm sorry I didn't get to say goodbye, but I think you're right Aunt May. I'm really gonna miss him though. Thank you for telling me." May smiled sadly.

"The other thing I have to tell you is... I have a new job upstate. So I'm not going to be in New York City all the time. Because of that, I'm giving you permission to live with your new friends while I'm out of town. I'm going to come back to New York every other weekend to visit you so we're gonna see each other a whole bunch, but I think that you would be happier staying with your friends the Avengers. I know they have what it takes to keep you safe from all of the bad guys who took you in the first place, and I know that they can help you use your powers for a good purpose. But if we do this, you have to promise that you'll always try to use what you can do in order to do the right thing, no matter WHAT. Can I trust you to do that?" Peter looked thoughtful.

"Uncle Ben always said that with great power, comes great responsibility. I wanna help stop HYDRA from making kids like me hurt people. I wanna protect people just like Uncle Ben. That's what i wanna do more than anything Aunt May! I'll be super careful, and I promise I'll live by what he always taught me! Thank you Aunt May!" May hugged Peter again before handing Peter a cell phone.

"I just got that for you this morning. You can call me every single day so you'll always feel like I'm right here for you. For now I'm gonna stay with you for your examinations, ok honey?" Peter nodded and said ok. After that Coulson opened another door.

"Are you kids ready? Remember we can stop any time you need us to." The four new Avengers all held hands. Thor was the one to speak.

"We're as ready as we'll ever be. Let's do this."

File 0, Version 2.0

Group Name: The Avengers

Original Avengers Members: Dr. Bruce Banner, Natasha Romanov, Clint Barton, Steve Rodgers, James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes, Sam Wilson, James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Virginia "Pepper" Potts, Anthony Howard "Tony" Stark.

Second Wave Avengers Members (Members that were added later): Thor Odinson, Vision Jarvis, Wanda Maximoff, Peter Parker

Team Leader: Steve Rodgers

Head Quarters Building Owner: Anthony Howard "Tony" Stark

Notes: HYDRA is a terrorist organization that was originally formed by the Third Reich, otherwise known as the Nazi Empire, who's main goal is to take over and rule the world. All of the original members of the Avengers team are former HYDRA agents. HYDRA kidnapped and/or found the original and second wave Avengers members and either forced or manipulated, if not both, into joining HYDRA's ranks. After serving HYDRA for various amounts of time, the original Avengers decided to break out of the HYDRA together. The Avengers were eventually able to free themselves and come together to form a team. The original members all escaped HYDRA on the same day. The NYPD recognize the Avengers as a gang due to their tendency to perform vigilante actions in pursuit of HYDRA cells hidden throughout New York City and the surrounding bureaus and because their actions are considered to be unsupervised by any legal guardians. All Avengers members are victims of illegal human experimentation (human being used as a term being used to represent their status as a person even if they are not biologically human by species), brainwashing, mind control, and torture, which lead to all of them developing various types of physical disabilities and mental disabilities and disorders, with a substantial presence of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) among nearly all, if not ALL, members. The goal of the Avengers is to destroy HYDRA and avenge the fallen who were killed, or who's lives were uprooted or destroyed by HYDRA's actions as well as to rescue (and possibly recruit security wave members into the Avengers) other kids and teens like them who were forced into working for HYDRA.

Avengers Motto: If we can't protect, then we'll avenge.

Subnote: Current records of the torture methods the Avengers were subjected to while under the control of HYDRA can be found attached to the actual medical records instead of the file summary pages

Subnote 2: Ages in all files are updated and changed at the beginning of each new year.

Subnote 3: Current second wave Avengers were rescued from HYDRA by the original Avengers while on missions.

File 9- Version 1.0

Name: Thor Odinson

Birthdate: Unknown (November 21st has been chosen for the sake of records)

Age: 16 (Estimated Mentally/Human Years) / 1052 (Physically/Asgardian Years)

Sex: Male

Asset Name: Static Slayer

Subnote 1: Thor Odinson was rescued from HYDRA along with fellow second wave avengers Wanda Maximoff, Vision Jarvis, and Peter Parker while the original avengers were in a mission raiding a HYDRA hideout.

Notes: Prince Thor Odinson is the real god of thunder figure from the Norse mythological legends. He is considered to mentally be a teenager in comparison with his teammates even though he is over 1000 years old physically due to a longer lifespan. Thor is a crown prince from another planet, Asgard. After surviving banishment and attempting to return home to Asgard, he was kidnapped by HYDRA, experimented on, tortured, subjected to mind control, and sent on HYDRA missions before breaking control. Thor was set to be teamed up with second wave Avengers members Wanda Maximoff, Vision Jarvis, and Peter Parker as a HYDRA strike team, but this did not occur because all four were rescued together from HYDRA by the original Avengers. Thor has a magical connection to his preferred weapon, a hammer that is called Mjölnir. Thor's powers, which he was born with and are not a product of HYDRA experimentation, consist of the ability to produce and control lightning bolts. Thor has also learned how to sense electrical signals, and how to short circuit or activate technology with his lightning. Thor was occasionally forced to use his lightning as a torture and/or execution method. This has caused him to experience psychological trauma. Thor lost his vision, and one of his physical eyes, due to a HYDRA snake venom experiment gone wrong. This has lead to a diagnosis of permanent blindness. Thor is due to receive a mechanical replacement for his missing eye from fellow Avenger Tony Stark, who believes he may be able to combine Thor's electric sensing abilities with optic technology in order to allow Thor to "see" electric currents. Upon examination of Thor's physical and mental health history, it was discovered that Thor most likely had Dyslexia as a child, which negatively affected his ability to read and write. Thor is planning to learn how to read and write in Braille, but his original Dyslexia may become present once again once he starts using the written language method. It was also discovered that Thor has a severe allergy to almonds. This allergy is severe enough to be potentially deadly, therefore an almost free diet is required for his own health and safety. An epinephrine pen (EpiPen) has been proved to counteract this allergy should he accidentally be exposed to almonds in his food. Thor has been granted duel citizenship between his home in Asgard and the United States of America, allowing him to legally be able to live on Earth, despite being from another planet. Thor's lightning was probably used to assist in the creation of fellow Avenger Vision Jarvis. (Officially diagnosed with PTSD, Dyslexia, Blindness, and severe specific food allergy to almonds.)

File 10, Version 1.0

Name: Peter Parker

Birthdate: August 10th

Age: 10

Sex: Male

Asset Name: Spider-Man

Subnote 1: Peter Parker was rescued from HYDRA along with fellow second wave avengers Wanda Maximoff, Vision Jarvis, and Thor Odinson while the original avengers were in a mission raiding a HYDRA hideout.

Notes: Peter Parker is currently the only Avenger that did not join as a teenager, due to being younger than 13 upon being rescued from HYDRA. He was kidnapped from the midst of plane wreckage after a plane crash that he was in with his family killed his parents. Peter was experimentally subjected to the bite of a radioactive spider, which resulted in a genetic mutation that gave him spider based super powers. Peter has super strength, heighten senses, advanced healing, has the ability to stick to, walk on, and climb on almost anything including walls and ceilings, and has a sixth sense that alerts Peter to danger that he calls his Spidey Sense. Peter's heightened senses sometimes cause him to have sensory overload. This has lead to a diagnosis of Sensory Processing Disorder. Peter was primarily tasked with field work, working in a team with fellow Avengers Vision Jarvis and Wanda Maximoff, as well as Pietro Maximoff. Peter is a child genius, but he still has social issues. Peter's last living family member and technical legal guardian, his Aunt May Parker, revealed that Peter received a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder when he was younger. Peter occasionally has issues with fine motor control. Peter's weapons of choice are synthetically created spider webs, which are projected from "web shooter" devices that he designed himself. (Officially diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Sensory Processing Disorder, and PTSD)

File 11, Version 1.0

Name: Vision Jarvis (last name assigned for the sake of legal documentation due to not having a last name previously)

Birthdate: May 7th (Month is accurate. Day is estimated due to lack of knowledge for the sake of records.)

Age: 4 (Physically)/ 15 (Mentally and Legally)

Sex: Male

Asset Name: Vision

Subnote 1: Vision Jarvis was rescued from HYDRA along with fellow second wave avengers Wanda Maximoff, Thor Odinson, and Peter Parker while the original avengers were in a mission raiding a HYDRA hideout.

Notes: Vision Jarvis is an artificially created cyborg made from an AI unit named JARVIS (originally created by fellow Avenger Tony Stark while still under the control of HYDRA) (Vision's last name is a tribute to the JARVIS AI unit). Vision was created by HYDRA using a combination of an ancient magical relic known as The Mind Stone and (most likely) lightning provided by fellow Avenger Thor Odinson as well as the JARVIS AI unit. Vision has multiple powers, including that of flight. Vision was not given vocal cords during his creation, making him physically unable to talk. Vision uses American Sign Language (ASL) when he wishes, but usually communicates by telepathically communicating with fellow Avenger Wanda Maximoff, who was also Vision's HYDRA mission partner along with Fellow Avenger Peter Parker, as well as Pietro Maximoff. Vision, along with Wanda, Peter, and Pietro Maximoff once tried to escape HYDRA by running away, but they were all re-kidnapped and brought back to the organization by force. Vision is in need of glasses for nearsightedness. (Officially diagnosed with PTSD, nearsightedness, and physical muteness.)

File 12, Version 1.0

Name: Wanda Maximoff

Birthdate: Unknown (August 29th has been chosen for the sake of records)

Age: 15

Sex: Female

Asset Name: Scarlet Witch

Notes: Wanda Maximoff and her brother Pietro Maximoff (who is now deceased) were misplaced by war in their home country of Sokovia after the death of their parents. The siblings were kidnapped and manipulated into joining HYDRA on the assumption that they could reap vengeance on Stark Industries for creating the weapons that destroyed their home and killed their family. Pietro had the Asset name Quicksilver, and had super speed as a super power, given to him through experimentation. Pietro lost his sense of taste and smell due to HYDRA experimentation. Pietro was part of a strike team including Wanda and Avengers Vision Jarvis and Peter Parker. Pietro was killed following a mission where the team broke their mind control and tried to run away. Wanda herself has multiple magical abilities, including telekinesis, mental manipulation, the ability to give people visions of their fears, and telepathic communication. Wanda and Vision frequently use telepathy to communicate with each other. Wanda also sends telepathic messages to Peter as well. Wanda lost her ability to hear specific frequencies of sound due to HYDRA experimentation. Wanda is hearing aide compatible. She often uses a combination of American Sign Language and her voice when she speaks. Wanda has renounced all loyalty to HYDRA and had gained duel citizenship between the United States and Sokovia. (Officially diagnosed with a specific hearing impairment and PTSD)

Subnote 1: Wanda Maximoff was rescued from HYDRA along with fellow second wave avengers Thor Odinson, Vision Jarvis, and Peter Parker while the original avengers were in a mission raiding a HYDRA hideout.

The evaluations were a long and emotional process for all four new Avengers, but thanks to the support of their team, and May Parker, they were able to get through it without any trouble. They left the facility that day with real legal documents for all of the second wave Avengers and a refill on Tony's heart medication and Natasha's OCD medication, plus new hearing aids for Wanda, two books about teach Braille along with three EpiPens and blueprints for a mechanical eye for Thor, and a couple of fidget toys plus some noice canceling headphones for Peter.

May Parker didn't stop hugging Peter for 5 minutes straight before letting him go into the Avengers HQ with his friends. She wanted to stay the night with Peter, but she was leaving Manhattan to go upstate tomorrow morning and had to finish packing her bags. She promised to call Peter when he woke up tomorrow to let him know she made it upstate safely. Once everyone was back in the common room, all four second wave Avengers broke down crying. This was to be expected. The evaluation process was extremely emotional. Having to bring up and talk about all of the physical, emotional, and mental trauma that they faced under HYDRA was REALLY hard to do, but the original Avengers were SO proud of their friends for being brave enough to go through with the examination. Everyone hugged the new Avengers closely, and they hugged each other. Thor wound up crying out for his brother at one point during the emotional breakdown because he wanted to hug him more then ANYTHING. The others tried their best to be a good substitute. By the end of it everyone was completely exhausted. Tony wound up taking the truck and splurging on 30 McDonald's fast food meals to divide among the entire team for dinner that night. The food helped ease some of the pain, but the second wave Avengers still cried themselves to sleep in the common room that night. The others threw blankets over the other four sleeping and emotionally drained kids and left them to sleep there for the night, not having the heart to wake them up.

There was no wake up call the next day. The four new avengers woke up to the smell of bacon and eggs cooking. Steve made breakfast again. All of the Avengers came down to breakfast and ate quietly. Clint came into the common room with a large bag. Apparently he had taken a night shift sorting through clothes at good Will and came back with some more outfits for the second wave Avengers. They all took the outfits gladly. After breakfast they put a way the new clothes and went on an official tour of the entire apartment building with Tony. They all had fun sliding down the fireman's poll, though Thor has been a little nervous about it since he didn't know if he would be able to land straight at the end. Thor did wind up falling over, but he didn't get hurt so it was more funny than concerning. Thor laughed along with everyone else. The other were all supper impressed with how well Thor was adjusting to being blind. When asked about it he just said that he needed to prove to himself that having no sight wouldn't stop him from trying to live his best life, especially once he became the king of Asgard one day, assuming he ever made it back. After his spill on the fireman's poll he asked someone to guide him back up to the roof because he wanted to try something. Bucky lead Thor up there and came back saying Thor needed time alone. The others started their morning hygiene tasks in the bathroom while they waited, but for some reason they were told that they were showering after they all got back from their excursion today. A little over an hour later there was a crack of Thunder that seemed to have struck the roof. Everyone wound up rushing up there to make sure that Thor was ok. What they found instead was simply incredible. Thor was wearing full Asgardian battle armor complete with a red cape, which was cool enough, but the thing that truly put everything together again was what Thor was holding in his hands. It was a giant hammer. The others knew that it just HAD to be Mjolnir. Everyone wound up congratulating Thor and putting him in another group hug before bombarding him with a zillion questions. Thor just laughed and answered all of them one at a time.

Far away within the halls of Asgard's palace, a man with eyes that could see nearly everyone in all the nine realms was jolted awake from his sleep by a vision of someone thought to be dead wielding lightning before his sight was blocked once again. He ran through the halls of the palace so he could inform King Odin of this development just incase it meant something important. Somewhere in New Mexico deep underground, someone else was temporarily jolted out of the mind control of HYDRA by the exact same vision.

After that Thor demonstrated his ability to morph the shape of his hammer into other objects. With some help from Bruce, Thor was able to make an extra long, tightly wrapped umbrella. Peter used his amazing ability to describe things to make sure that Thor did this so he could use it as a cane without it actually looking like one, so Thor felt a bit better about himself. The umbrella could also double as an actual umbrella if needed. Bruce wound up teaching Thor how to use the umbrella as a cane if he wanted or needed to. After that Peter talked on the phone with his Aunt May and Peter updated her on Thor's regaining of his hammer. May congratulated Thor over speakerphone. Once that was over Rhodey told everyone that they were walking today and to make sure they wear their rattiest clothes. They walked until they reached a parking garage and took a short cut through it to the other side. They walked for two more blocks until Natasha lead them all down a back ally... and flipped open a dumpster lid. Thor spoke first.

"Excuse me but why does this place smell like garbage?" Pepper spoke first.

"That's because we're near garbage Thor. We're standing next to a dumpster." Wanda wrinkled her nose.

"But WHY are we standing next to a dumpster!?" Natasha chuckled.

"That's because we need to go INSIDE the dumpster. We're going dumpster diving today. We're going to start by searching through this dumpster for anything still usable. Oh, and you four newbies are going first." The four new avengers made various sounds of disgust. Vision used ASL to ask WHY they were doing this. Natasha smirked.

"Tony splurged a lot of our cash on fast food last night, so now we need to make up for that by looking for things to fix and pawn off or take back to repurpose for ourselves. The fastest way to get used to this is to just dive straight into the worst dumpster you can find. That way the rest won't seem as bad in comparison. We can't actually force you to do this is you really don't want to, but sometimes we REALLY do get desperate enough to depend on this kind of thing. We once had to live off of dumpster dive food for a whole month because we went completely broke and the crops on the roof were destroyed in a storm. Our life isn't easy, but whatever we do, we do as a team to make things more bearable. You don't need to do this alone. We're doing it together." The four new avengers only hesitated for one moment more.

Suddenly Peter ran up the wall and backflipped off of it straight into the dumpster. Wanda used a random box as stairs to climb over the side, after giving Clint her hearing aides and Peter's headphones. Thor put down his umbrella hammer and sunglasses and asked which direction to run. Bucky turned him the right way and Thor LEAPED into the dumpster. Vision flew straight into the dumpster in a diver's pose. The other Avengers all cheered. Steve yelled at all of them to be more careful because they were still recovering from HYDRA. 15 minutes later they were rewarded with several viable items. Tony open d his backpack and told them to throw the things inside. Thor managed to find a slightly rusty switch blade. There wasn't any blood on it so they were pretty sure no one had used it on a person and discarded it to cover up a murder, but they joked and nicknamed the weapon the "murder knife" anyway. Tony mentioned that he could remove the rust and fix it up for Thor after the Asgardian said he wished to keep it because it reminded him of his brother Loki. Tony just laughed and said that no one would be stupid enough to mess with the blind guy wielding a knife because no one would know how well he can aim. They moved on to other dumpsters, where the others finally got their hands dirty. They searched for hours and hours. Eventually they found several broken things that could be fixed and sold to the pawn shops. Peter found some materials that he said would be great for making new web shooters. Tony immediately declared that he was helping Peter build them. By the end of the dumpster diving session everyone felt really good. Thor looked like he had gained a ton of confidence back. He was walking at the very front of the group for awhile... until he nearly walked over the curb and out into traffic. After that someone was always walked with a hand in his or a hand on his shoulder for the rest of the day. Thor eventually dropped his embarrassment and declared that he was going to just use his umbrella next time.

When they got back to the apartment Tony put all of their finds in the workshop so he could start on restoring them later. Everyone took showers. After that Pepper took the newbies to the corner store to meet the shop owner. They, ironically, stopped the man from getting robbed again. There were four assailants, so that was one robber for each of them. Somehow during the fight Thor managed to hit the robber he was fighting with his hammer dead center every single time despite not being able to see. The shop owner was so grateful that after giving their statements to the police, he let the kids have 50 dollars to pick out anything they wanted. The kids tried to refuse but the owner said he had wanted to do something like that to welcome the new Avengers anyway. He said he could repay him later by taking a couple of shifts working for him during the rest of the month if they choose to. They mostly picked groceries and things that everyone could use, but Wanda found a six pack of some costume jewelry earrings that she liked that would look good with her red hearing aides, so she got those too. Peter insisted on getting coffee for Tony and Pepper as well as some other things since he didn't have his own apartment anyway, so he decided to shop for his new roommates instead. He did wind up getting himself one of those adult coloring books and some colored pencils though. He wanted to share with Steve because he heard Steve liked art. Pepper wound up getting a bunch of pairs of earbuds for the four newbies, saying that they would find out why in a few days. Thor DEFINITELY loved buying five boxes of poptarts all for himself, but he got a sixth one for the common room kitchen to be nice. Once they got back with their haul they went to their apartments and cooked themselves their own dinners in their own kitchens. Peter helped Tony and Pepper cook that night. Steve decided that he was going to help Thor learn to cook for himself so he could retain a sense of independence. The smile that lit up Thor's face was contagious to all who saw it as he proudly told his teammates that he could now make spaghetti with tomato sauce all by himself now, even if the sauce has come from a jar.

The team spent the rest of that night doing random busy work. Vision helped Bucky and Natasha clean the bathroom. Wanda decided to help Thor get a head start on learning Braille and declared that she was gonna learn it with him so she could help him figure it all out. Bruce, Peter, Pepper, and Tony worked on the dumpster diving haul. Clint went up to the roof to tend to the garden. Rhodey and Sam went on two of the laptops and started looking at YouTube videos for tips and tricks to help Thor learn how to live independently while blind. Thor cried with joy later when he found out, absolutely astounded by the kindness of his new friends. Steve... Steve decided to decorate the new Avengers' apartment doors. Steve LOVED art, and he was always doing scenic paintings and public murals for extra cash. They let him take home excess art supplies sometimes. He hoarded them so he could paint the inside of the building's walls in his free time. The walls of the common room were actually a beautiful mural of the New York City skyline as seen from the top of the rock observatory sight. Steve made a point of painting the apartment doors with nature scenes of their favorite places. Wanda and Vision requested a scene from Sokovia, chosen off of pictures from the Internet. Peter asked for a small scale scene of Queens on his bedroom door, and Steve agreed because he didn't want Peter feeling left out. Thor had a different request. He wanted the bottom half of his door to be a scene from New Mexico, reflected as if in a body of water. We requested that the top half be of Asgard. Steve loved the challenge, but he had no idea what Asgard looked like. That's when Wanda spent 24 hours straight learning to use her magic to project Thor's memories of Asgard into Steve's mind so he could see what Thor saw and use it to make the painting. Thor cried upon being able to see his home in his head clearly as if he had eyes again. He had hugged Wanda in thanks afterwards. Steve has a photographic memory for landscapes, and decided to work on Tho's door first. Wanda promised Thor that she would project Steve's memory of the door into Thor's head when it was finished so he would always know what it looked like. Thor happily agreed. Steve wound up working in an almost fevered fury on Thor's door for three days straight with no sleep, even going so far as to have Bucky pilfer Tony's coffee. In the end though the door wound up being an absolutely gorgeous piece. Wanda did indeed shoe Thor Steve's memory of it. Thor loved every single part of it. It was EXACTLY what he hoped for. Another week later (after finally giving in and going to sleep. and Steve had Peter's bedroom door and Wanda and Vision's apartment doors done too. Peter has the idea to take pictures of all the doors and print copies of it on canvas for people to buy on the internet. They eventually found a place that would let them borrow their canvas printer in exchange for maintenance and labor, and they printed 20 copies of each door painting before selling them on a website that promoted local artists. They wound up making an extra $3000 dollars in five days and were eventually completely sold out of canvas, which they personally delivered in Tony's truck in order to avoid spending money on mail packaging. They decided to keep doing this permanently once every two weeks from that day on. Five days after the evaluation of the second wave Avengers, the team got four letters in the mail saying that the second wave Avengers had all been accepted at SHIELD Technical Academy with their friends, including Peter. The team celebrated by treating themselves to Ice cream pops from the corner store.


	2. Chapter 2

(Series Summary: In an alternate universe, HYDRA has done a lot of personal damage to many of the heroes of Marvel. They truly are the victims of horrible trauma. They were taken as HYDRA agents by force, used as lab rats, abused, damaged, brainwashed, mind controlled, and HURT in ways that can't truly ever be fixed. Then they escaped, or were rescued, and they banded together to form a team. The Avengers are a group of ex child HYDRA agents who's mission is to one day destroy HYDRA for good. Their mission is not easy, and the life they live does not help lightning the load. Living with poverty, constantly being bullied, food insecurity, all different kinds of psychological conditions including PTSD, various disabilities and physical illnesses, and almost no family members to turn while working for cash in any way they can and dumpster diving by day and raiding secret HYDRA bases by night is hard enough, especially since they live together without ANY true adults. Adding in that none of the Avengers are 18 yet (at least in Earth years) just makes it harder. They've really only kept their hope Alive because they have each other for support, occasionally along with their mysterious advocate Mr. Coulson and the generosity of neighbors and strangers. However, the Avengers are survivors. They refuse to give up on the hope that HYDRA won't steal the futures they dream of, so they keep fighting any way they can.

Then one spring they start getting new teammates, and they gain more once summer rolls around. They definitely never imagined that they would receive allies from space! To think that everything changed the day the Avengers rescued a couple of new members during a HYDRA base raid, including a newly blinded boy who says his name is Prince Thor Odinson of Asgard. Then over a month later they rescue (and successfully recruit) Thor's brother Prince Loki Odinson, who is QUITE shocked to find out that Thor is not only blind, but is in fact ALIVE, especially considering that Thor was thought to be dead for over two years when his elder brother disappeared without a trace after his banishment ended! Thor meanwhile is shocked to learn that HYDRA had been holding Loki captive almost as long as they had held Thor, and that HYDRA had left Loki with one less leg than he had the last time he had seen him. Two weeks after Loki joins the Avengers, they rescue and recruit even MORE kids and expand the avengers even further! All of these new allies were welcome additions to the Avengers team, but when they realized that getting the Odinson brothers back to Asgard could lead to an interplanetary alliance? Well, that opened up a whole ton of new possibilities for the Avengers that could step up their small scale rebellion against HYDRA up big time! One thing is certain though, these kids are the best chance the world has of beating HYDRA once and for all.

This story will EVENTUALLY focus heavily on Thor and Loki at times so if you like the Brodinsons you're in the right place! You've just got be patient! Warning: In this story I take some creative liberties with science. This story also features characters who have debilitating permanent injuries such as characters with nerve damage, blindness, injury related deafness, or who are amputees, as well as characters with in born conditions like ADHD or learning disabilities. I mean no offense if I portray something incorrectly or something. All of the Avengers will have PTSD in this story. This is not a story for young children due to sensitive topics.)

(Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel or any Marvel Characters in any way, shape, or form)

(What's the difference between form and shape anyway?)

(Chapter Summary: Peter, Thor, Vision, and Wanda start learning how to live their new lives with the Avengers.)

Forged by Lightning, Rescued by Love

Chapter 2

A month and a half passed by. The second wave avengers got used to their new lives. Wanda managed to pick up how to live with hearing aides very quickly. Tony found a way to change Wanda's earbuds and her hearing aides so that the earbuds could be plugged into them and function like regular headphones without draining the battery through Bluetooth, though Wanda's hearing aides DID come with a Bluetooth option. Tony also wound up doing the same thing for Clint's hearing aides too. When Wanda has asked what the earbuds were actually for, the boy had simply handed Wanda, Thor, and Vision a beat up shoe box and told them to open their presents. It turns out that Tony managed to scrape together some self built/altered cellphones for Wanda, Vision, and Thor. Thor's phone was reprogramed so that a robotic voice played text messages in his ear through his ear buds and typed for him by using the phone's built in microphone. Tony eventually programmed an app onto all of the phones that let all of them use WiFi to make phone and video calls with each other. Tony actually got annoyed that he hadn't thought of doing that earlier. Thor did have some trouble with learning Braille because of his Dyslexia, but once he figured out how to tap into his allspeak magic spell to assist him, he became a master of the skill, even if he did occasionally mix up his letters. Thor actually wound up needing to tutor Wanda instead of the other way around. This is how they discovered that Thor made an excellent verbal translator. Their overall monthly budget went up by $600 dollars once Thor started letting people pay him for his translating services.

Sometimes Thor wore his old eyepatch over his mechanical eye in public, but more often he just wore his sunglasses. He did this because it was a convenient way to help other people feel more comfortable around him, mostly because his eyes freaked some people out, especially the mechanical one. Thor had no shame for his eyes. That's why he didn't want Tony to change the design of his bionic eye when he offered to try. However, he wanted people to think about HIM instead of how he looked when they were talking to him, so covering AT LEAST the mechanical eye was the easiest option. Plus he liked how he looked with sunglasses when Wanda showed him a memory of him when he was curious what he looked like with glasses on. The original cheep sunglasses weren't durable though, and wound up breaking while on a mission. Tony and Bruce wound up finding a pair of new glasses, popping out the old lenses, smelting new, crackproof, antiglare, and shatterproof lenses in a crafting oven in the back of an art supplies store (with materials they picked up from an optometrist's office that went out of business who were discarding their supplies), attaching adjustable athletic eyeglass straps to the ear pieces, (again acquired from the out of business optometrist) and altering the composition of the lenses so that they became two-way mirrors. The outside of the lenses, which was the part that other people looked at, was simply a reflection of themselves, while the inside of the lenses was clear. This made hiding Thor's mechanical eye easier without obstructing the vision of his bionic eye, plus the others said he looked totally awesome.

Peter LOVED Thor's glasses, and he asked if Tony and Bruce could make a reverse pair to assist him with vision related sensory overload without looking like he was wearing sunglasses indoors. Let's just say that Tony and Bruce had a lot of fun doing that.

Thor was getting really good at learning Braille. Once Thor no longer needed instructional materials and started reading casual books as well as copies of the school books from the subject roster for SHIELD Technical Academy, which were sent to him from the American Printing House for the blind, it was like he could see the world in his imagination again. Thor didn't like geology, he HATED poetry, he enjoyed fictional stories, especially fantasies as well as historical and science fiction, and he had a neutral relationship with chemistry. He liked biology and psychology because he wanted to learn more about the conditions that afflicted him and his friends He ate up the history textbooks from school, feeling the words on the book pages for hours on end. Physics was also on his list of subjects he enjoyed. Surprisingly enough though, Thor also wound up being really good at math, which they discovered when he decided to keep a book about engineering that had been sent to them from the printing house accidentally. All math, (except for geometry), was really easy for him to understand once he got past being frustrated at his Dyslexia for mixing up the numbers. He especially loved electrical engineering because of his connection to lighting. The mathematics just MADE SENSE to him. His knowledge of math and lightning helped him to understand the inner workings of electronic technology. Because of this, he wound up becoming a nearly permanent part of Tony's lab whenever the young genius fiddled with whatever electronic pieces he was building out of scraps. This is how Thor helped Tony and Peter create a new mechanical eye. Together they created a device that allowed Thor to use his lightning to see, actually SEE electrical currents. Once he could see electricity Thor was exposed to a whole new world. He still couldn't see color or regular light because the pupal of the eye couldn't adjust it's size in order to accommodate for that, but Thor said this actually made it easier for him to see electricity anyway. He even found that he often preferred seeing the natural light of electrical signals on the air over sunlight or artificial light like he had been to before. He only found himself feeling sad about not being able to see color or the faces of his family, or what Asgard looked like, but Wanda helped him made sure he never forgot what those things were like. Thor often left his new eye turned off because he discovered that overusing it caused him to experience headaches, but Thor was adjusting to his life of blindness pretty well. The colors of the mechanical eye itself wound up including a very dark grey sclera, a black pupal, and a forest green iris. Thor said he liked that is was green, because once again, it reminded him of his brother. Bruce further eased Thor's life by using his chemistry PhD to create a wax like material that could be used to add Braille patterns onto walls, doors, buttons, devices, and a lot of other things. Thor and Wanda worked together to put words in Braille all over the place in their apartment. This way Thor could navigate the building by himself simply by running his hand along the walls and using the Braille marks as labels to endear exactly where he was. He also had a ton of hidden Braille patterns in his apartment for this same purpose. Thor even managed to incorporate the of his hammer written in Braille into the engravings on Mjolnir using magic. He was VERY proud of that actually. He also used written Braille to keep a journal of letters to his family and friends, especially Loki. He hoped to be able to actually send them one day, but no one knew how to send mail to another planet.

Wanda and Vision found that they enjoyed tending to the rooftop garden. The little piece of nature was refreshing and interesting. The two found that they greatly enjoyed horticulture, and wound up growing little potted plants in some unconventional containers the found while scavenging, such as old boots and plastic bottles, in order to grow little plants that could sell on the street corner. They got an extra $700 dollars the day they actually sold the plants. They also wound up expanding and improving the quantity and quality of the crops by using gardening tips they got from the Internet. They also grew flowers from homemade window boxes in their apartment.

The "murder knife" switch blade was now clean and shiny, and legally owned because Steve made sure it wasn't REALLY a wanted murder weapon before the cops gave Thor the ok to keep it, as long as it was registered in their system. Switch blades were illegal to own in New York, UNLESS it was used for hunting, fishing, or trapping by a person with a valid license for those activities. Thor jokingly asked if HYDRA hunting counted for a hunting license. Steve and Thor had the best day EVER when they went to the registration office and managed to get Thor a New York State hunting license so he could legally own his switch blade, once they okayed their plan with the cops. It was hard because of the whole "gang status" thing but one story about getting lost on a hunting expedition in the forests of Vanaheim when he was younger was enough to convince the cops to let them keep the knife. They didn't even bother addressing that Thor was legally blind either. Later that day Steve wound up talking to Thor about how he and Bucky illegally joined the US army. Thor laughed and talked about his brother's reaction to the hunting trip that he had told the cops about. The team now loved to joke about how Thor technically owned an illegal weapon.

Peter wound up getting into Parkour. He was constantly doing tricks in the gym and in the city parks while out doing odd jobs. He actually collected some extra money as a street performer on occasion once he realized that people thought he was entertaining. He used his extra cash to buy materials to make his web fluid and to make a Spider-Man uniform with. He wound up working with Tony to make these things, and eventually came out with a stylish looking fully body suit that made it almost impossible to figure out his identity. He said he didn't want HYDRA or anyone else using his identity against people they loved.

The team still did random jobs, and they still went dumpster diving, but they also went on missions. The second wave Avengers were worried the night of their first HYDRA hunting mission. The original avengers expressed empathy because they had been nervous too. The mission had wound up being a success, leading to the rescue of 20 adult illegal experimentation victims, and arrest of 50 HYDRA agents in one night. Peter was great at cheering the victims up with Anyone who saw Thor's face that night as he was battling agent after agent could tell you that he was thrilled to be back on the battlefield, fighting to save the innocent and defeat the terrorists that had broken down and hurt him and his friends not so long ago. His blind eye glowed with the power of his lightning, and the iris on his mechanical eye glowed green. He declared at the end of the fight that he hadn't felt that WHOLE in a very long time. They went on 17 more missions during that month and a half, and didn't fail on even a single one.

However, not everything that occurred during that time was positive. There was a reason that literally all of the Avengers had been diagnosed with PTSD. It hadn't taken long after those first few days for the second wave avengers to start having flashbacks, nightmares, and panic attacks, almost all of it related to either HYDRA or the events that lead to their joining of HYDRA. The first panic attack since the second was avengers joined was actually caused by something rather mundane. Thor was drinking milk in the common room and worried that he had actually accidentally consumed almond milk instead because he hadn't read the carton before pouring it (thankfully that hadn't been the case at the time). He started worrying about having a reaction, but his thoughts turned into a viscous mental attack that convinced him he was back on the lab table being injected with toxic substances. Steve wound up having to talk Thor out of it for 10 minutes straight. Thor decided not to drink anymore milk from the common room kitchen and just keep milk in his own fridge instead after that. Everyone had a nightmare at least once a week if not more. It wasn't uncommon to find two Avengers in the common room drinking tea together because their dreams were keeping them from falling back to sleep. One time a bad flashback lead to the second wave avengers witnessing their first Hulk transformation. They were in the gym training together at the time when Bruce has the flashback. Thankfully the hulk hadn't broken much, and was in fact rather fond of Peter, who was very enthusiastic about meeting Hulk and showed absolutely no fear. The hulk out did wind up breaking a few things that Tony begrudgingly admitted could not be salvaged, but better random objects instead of people being broken.

Wanda constantly misplaced her hearing aides all the time. They wound up in weird locations. She also occasionally telekinetically manipulated objects in her sleep. They sometimes landed on top of Vision when they dropped out of the air across the room.

Vision broke a few windows because he would occasionally fly through the glass when he woke up from his nightmares. He also sometimes made holes in the ceiling from his mind stone beam in his sleep.

Peter got sensory overload at least twice a week. The headphones and glasses helped a lot, but it still took him half an hour at a time to calm down from each one. It also gave him headaches.

Natasha's OCD once caused a three day feud between Sam and her because Sam rearranged the coffee mugs without her permission. It ended after she punched Sam in the face and rearranged the cups again by herself. She had apparently been low on her medication in that time.

Rhodey once needed help because he slipped in the shower and couldn't get up. Bruce wound up having to help him. Rhodey both blushed for hours. The only thing that made it less awkward was that Bruce was used to nudity from his doctor's training.

Thor kept finding new struggles related to living with blindness. Sometimes it was about mundane things like putting clothes on the wrong way or grabbing the wrong hairbrush on the bathroom counter, but sometimes there were more serious issues. He soon discovered that he could no longer use facial expressions to tell when people were lying to him. He almost got ripped off by pawn shop workers several times because of this. Thor occasionally got teased by random people in the streets who made fun of him for occasionally needing his hammer/umbrella/cane to navigate, but he tried his best not to let them get to him. It didn't help that when he tried to just not use it around the bullies, that he would occasionally wind up putting himself in danger. Once he almost accidentally walked off of the Brooklyn Bridge. No one to this day is entirely sure how that happened. Because of that incident though he wasn't allowed to leave the apartment without at least one other person to make sure he didn't die in an accident, at least until he figured out a method for avoiding accidents without his mechanical eye. Thor once got mugged because someone snuck up behind him on a crowded street because Steve wasn't watching out for him. The police wound up catching the thief, but Thor had still gotten hurt, and he struggled to accept that he was now highly vulnerable to sneak attacks, and how dependent he now had to be on other people. He sometimes struggled with differentiating his teammates from enemies while on missions too. This lead to a few accidental injuries, and it KILLED Thor on the inside every single time. His teammates never blamed Thor for doing it on purpose though. Actually, Thor managed to create a new technique to help with these issues in battle. While his bionic eye was on he could more easily sense the location of electric currents and signals, but also that he could see the signals he sent out. This also meant he could see different signals bouncing off of each other and off of things in the environment. Thor could also sense the signals when they bounced off of things and came back to him. Thor figured out that he could send out small static electric impulses when he snapped his fingers. These impulses bounced off of things as well as people. Thor realized he could use this ability as a form of electric echolocation, and he called the technique his echostatic pulse. This helped him to judge distances between himself and different people and objects (not to mention the distance between himself and the edge of the Brooklyn Bridge) more accurately, and it made him slightly less vulnerable to attacks from behind him, but it still didn't help him with identifying who was who. He had also singed his eyebrows the first time he tried the technique because he made the electric signal too strong. They took a week to heal properly. He wore his reflective glasses that week.

Thor's echostatic pulse occasionally left static electricity behind. People were constantly getting shocked when they touched doorknobs. It occasionally lead to Clint and Wanda's hearing aides shocking their ears.

Steve once got his prosthetic hand stuck in the ice maker in his refrigerator. He broke said ice maker because his phobia of being frozen again made him have a panic attack.

The Avengers were often picked on by bullies. Thor would never forget the first time Rhodey warned him that he had an offensive sticky note taped to the back of his shirt. Thor regretted asking Rhodey to read what it said to him. Thor quickly learned later that night that their team went into Avengers mode very quickly whenever they one of their own was bullied. Clint almost went out with his bow and arrows to try and locate the person who left the note behind (ALMOST being the key word). Bruce had nearly hulked out when he found out about the note. The others nearly let the hulk out of the basement to find the bully, but Peter convinced hulk that it wasn't worth it. Another time Peter got bullied because a loud police chase down fifth avenue lead to him getting sensory overload and a few other kids decided to mock him for it. Thor used his lightning to short out a few light bulbs above their heads after Peter mentioned that it was too bright under the lit porte-cochore they were standing beneath. The kids were scared off, thinking that the connecting building nearby was haunted. Thor had to carry poor Peter back to HQ once the boy got his glasses and headphones put on because his sensory overload bout had him in too much pain to walk. Everyone hated to see the spider kid suffer, especially Tony. Tony was closer to Peter then anyone else in the Avengers, except maybe Pepper, with Rhodey coming up REALLY closely behind her. Tony stayed by Peter's bedside that whole night.

There were many more problems, including Tony's Arc Reactor malfunctioning once during maintenance, Pepper breaking a few plates because she forgot to put on her brace, Bucky breaking a finger because Steve slipped and landed with his prosthetic hand on top of Bucky's actual hand during a training session, and Clint needing stitches in his leg because he was playing around with Thor's switch blade without wearing his hearing aides, and Peter came up behind him leading to him startling him into accidentally stabbing himself in the leg because he was startled. Overall though, things could have been a lot worse.

However, very soon, the team was about to get a new member... or should they say 'brother'?


	3. Chapter 3

(Story Crossposted On Deviantart. Series Summary: In an alternate universe, HYDRA has done a lot of personal damage to many of the heroes of Marvel. They truly are the victims of horrible trauma. They were taken as HYDRA agents by force, used as lab rats, abused, damaged, brainwashed, mind controlled, and HURT in ways that can't truly ever be fixed. Then they escaped, or were rescued, and they banded together to form a team. The Avengers are a group of ex child HYDRA agents who's mission is to one day destroy HYDRA for good. Their mission is not easy, and the life they live does not help lightning the load. Living with poverty, constantly being bullied, food insecurity, all different kinds of psychological conditions including PTSD, various disabilities and physical illnesses, and almost no family members to turn while working for cash in any way they can and dumpster diving by day and raiding secret HYDRA bases by night is hard enough, especially since they live together without ANY true adults. Adding in that none of the Avengers are 18 yet (at least in Earth years) just makes it harder. They've really only kept their hope Alive because they have each other for support, occasionally along with their mysterious advocate Mr. Coulson and the generosity of neighbors and strangers. However, the Avengers are survivors. They refuse to give up on the hope that HYDRA won't steal the futures they dream of, so they keep fighting any way they can.

Then one spring they start getting new teammates, and they gain more once summer rolls around. They definitely never imagined that they would receive allies from space! To think that everything changed the day the Avengers rescued a couple of new members during a HYDRA base raid, including a newly blinded boy who says his name is Prince Thor Odinson of Asgard. Then over a month later they rescue (and successfully recruit) Thor's brother Prince Loki Odinson, who is QUITE shocked to find out that Thor is not only blind, but is in fact ALIVE, especially considering that Thor was thought to be dead for over two years when his elder brother disappeared without a trace after his banishment ended! Thor meanwhile is shocked to learn that HYDRA had been holding Loki captive almost as long as they had held Thor, and that HYDRA had left Loki with one less leg than he had the last time he had seen him. Two weeks after Loki joins the Avengers, they rescue and recruit even MORE kids and expand the avengers even further! All of these new allies were welcome additions to the Avengers team, but when they realized that getting the Odinson brothers back to Asgard could lead to an interplanetary alliance? Well, that opened up a whole ton of new possibilities for the Avengers that could step up their small scale rebellion against HYDRA up big time! One thing is certain though, these kids are the best chance the world has of beating HYDRA once and for all.

This story will EVENTUALLY focus heavily on Thor and Loki at times so if you like the Brodinsons you're in the right place! You've just got be patient! Warning: In this story I take some creative liberties with science. This story also features characters who have debilitating permanent injuries such as characters with nerve damage, blindness, injury related deafness, or who are amputees, as well as characters with in born conditions like ADHD or learning disabilities. I mean no offense if I portray something incorrectly or something. All of the Avengers will have PTSD in this story. This is not a story for young children due to sensitive topics.)

(Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel or any Marvel Characters in any way, shape, or form)

(What's the difference between form and shape anyway?)

(Chapter Summary: Loki and Thor are reunited, and Loki joins the Avengers.)

Forged by Lightning, Rescued by Love

Chapter 3

They were on a HYDRA hunting mission in New Jersey. They didn't usually go out of state for missions, but Tony had wanted to go to his favorite Italian bakery to pick up cookies to celebrate Clint's birthday, so they stopped there on their way to a rumored HYDRA base sight, mostly because they needed the excuse to buy cookies. They ate the cookies on their way to the base sight. When they got there, Natasha kicked the door down and Thor let out one of his echostatic pulses. Thor called an all clear and they moved forward. Two minutes later the alarm went off. Clint groaned.

"SERIOUSLY!?" Which one of us tripped a sensor!?" Steve narrowed his eyes.

"There's no time to argue. We need to split up and search for prisoners! We're doing this fast people! We go in regular split teams. My team go left. Tony's team go right. GO!" Everyone split off. Steve, Bruce, Thor (who had decided to update his look by adding a cloak hood onto his cape, which he was wearing that night), Peter, Sam, and Bucky went left. Everyone else went right. The right team was fine for about 20 minutes before Clint got hit in the head by a blue light. Clint suddenly stopped and stood stock still. Natasha looked at him strangely.

"Clint? What's wrong?" Clint, eyes glowing an unnatural blue, smirked... and shot an arrow at Natasha. Natasha barely dodged in time. She cussed and yelled at the others.

"Something has compromised Clint! He needs a mind control break out! Wanda try to get through to him! Tony Pepper, pin him down!" Clint was still firing arrows as she spoke. After Tony and Pepper pinned down Clint the group heard a slow clap coming from behind them. A figure walked out of the shadows... a bruised and battered figure wearing black leather with the HYDRA insignia on it (which was slashed through as though with a knife for some reason)... and golden horns on his helmeted head. The figure's eyes were glowing blue just like Clint's. The figure also looked pale and exhausted, but the worst part was that his lips were bloody and torn, almost as though something has been torn out of them. The figure spoke, his lips dripping with blood as he did so.

"Well well well, you're pretty good at incapacitating each other, I'll give you humans THAT at least! What's wrong? Not willing to kill your former friend to protect yourselves while he's under the influence of mind control? You seemed so capable of killing allies to your planet before!" Wanda gasped finally recognizing the figure.

"Guys that's Loki! He's Thor's brother!" Loki looked at Wanda with an intrigued look on his face.

"Oh? You've heard of him then?" Wanda narrowed her eyes.

"Yes. He's our friend. He's here right now actually! Maybe he can knock some sense into you!" Loki suddenly looked much less intrigued and much more angry. He stumbled forward and manifested a dagger.

"Lies. ALL LIES! You CAN'T know my brother! You humans KILLED HIM! After everything he did to help protect your planet, from a monster that I sent after him actually, I admit that, you went and MURDERED MY BROTHER! THOR IS DEAD AND IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!" Loki suddenly had tears in his eyes. Wanda tried to remain calm as she sent her magic to Loki's mind to scan it. She gasped at what she found.

"Loki, you're not thinking clearly! You've been BRAINWASHED! There's a magical influence on your mind! It's not letting you see logic! You need to expel the foreign presence!" Loki growled and pinned Wanda to the wall with his forearm.

"I CAN'T TRUST ANYTHING YOU HUMANS SAY! I THOUGHT I COULD BELIEVE IN YOUR HYDRA TO HELP ME AVENGE MY BROTHER! THEY TOLD ME THEY WANTED TO SAVE THE WORLD FROM INJUSTICE BY TAKING IT FOR THEIR OWN! BUT INSTEAD THEY TORTURED ME, USED ME AS A WEAPON, AND STOLE MY D 3N LEG! THEY ACTUALLY CUT IT OFF WHILE I WAS CONSCIOUS ENOUGH TO WATCH, AND THAT WAS AFTER LOCKING ME IN A SOUNDLESS COFFIN SIZED BOX WITH NO LIGHT FOR NEARLY TWO MONTHS STRAIGHT! IF I COULD TRUST THEM THEN THEY WOULDN'T HAVE DONE THAT TO ME AFTER I OFFERED TO HELP THEM! NONE OF YOU HUMANS CAN BE TRUSTED!" Everyone, besides the struggling, mind controlled Clint, gasped softly and looked at Loki with empathy. Wanda used her magic to push Loki off of her before speaking again.

"Loki your brother is ALIVE! THOR'S HERE RIGHT NOW! He's our friend! We can take you to him, but you gotta break the mind control!" Loki threw a knife at Natasha, who had tried to sneak up on him. Natasha barely avoided a fatal hit. Loki stalked forward, another knife already in his hand.

"YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO TALK ABOUT MY BROTHER! YOU HAVE NO PROOF THAT YOU EVER KNEW HIM!" Rhodey and Vision tried to intervene but Wanda was sending them mental messages to stay back.

"You want proof that I know him right!? Well how else would I know exactly who you were without ever meeting you before!?" Loki stopped, suddenly looking slightly confused amidst his anger. Wanda kept going.

"I have the power to see people's memories! I once went into Thor's head because he wanted to share his memories of Asgard! I also saw his memories of YOU! I saw your face in his mind! I wouldn't have been able to do that without at least MEETING him before! Surely that can at least make you suspicious!?" Loki shifted his weight and GROWLED at Wanda, even as he screamed and cried out ran at the scarlet witch and pressed her against the wall once again with a knife against her throat.

"How do I know that YOU weren't his KILLER then!? You could have looked into his mind right before he DIED! Tell me, did you force Thor to suffer!? Did you kill him while doing experiments on him like HYDRA did to me!? BECAUSE IT SURE SEEMED LIKE HE WAS TORTURED TO DEATH BASED ON HEIMDAL'S VISION OF YOUR POLICE DIGGING UP MY BROTHER'S ROTTING CORPSE AND TAKING HIM AWAY TO BE STORED IN A COLD METAL BOX UNTIL THE END OF TIME! I LOVED MY BROTHER MORE THAN LIFE ITSELF! EVEN WHEN I WAS ANGRY ENOUGH TO TRY TO KILL HIM I KNEW I STILL LOVED HIM SOMEWHERE! BUT NOW HE'S GONE! YOU COULDN'T EVEN LEAVE US MJOLNIR TO REMEMBER HIM BY BECAUSE YOU TOOK THAT TOO! YOU MISTREATED HIM AND STOLE HIM FROM HIS HOME AND THE PEOPLE HE LOVED! YOU'RE ALL MONSTERS! YOU WILL PAY FOR WHAT YOU'VE DONE TO HIM! NOW FEEL THE WRATH OF LOKI ODINSON, PRINCE OF ASGARD, THE ONE WHO WILL-"

"LOKI!?" The knife slipped out of his grip and clattered to the floor. Loki had been cut off by a voice that he never thought he would hear again... a voice he knew by heart. Tears inexplicably rolled down his face. Loki, though he's not entirely sure why, stops trying to restrain Wanda and touches his fingers to his face, looking at the tears on them in confusion. The voice called out his name again.

"LOKI!" This time, hearing the voice immediately caused an awful pain to bloom in his head, but at the same time Loki just knew that he NEEDED to hear more! Someone was walking up behind Loki, who stood stock still in shock, unable to do anything more than hold his aching head with his tear covered hand. The voice spoke again, this the closer.

"LOKI! LOKI DO YOU SEE!? IT'S ME, YOUR BROTHER! IT'S REALLY ME! IT'S THOR! LOKI THEY LIED TO YOU, BUT NOT IN THE WAY THAT YOU THINK! I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU SAW, BUT I'M NOT DEAD! PLEASE LOOK AT ME! WHAT YOU'RE THINKING ISN'T REAL! BROTHER PLEASE!" The headache increased, but Loki could not stop himself from slowly turning around. He HAD to see for himself who was using that voice. He gasped upon seeing the person standing right behind him, despite the strange glasses over his eyes and the hood over his hair. Loki still knew that voice and face anywhere. The REAL kicker though, was that they were HOLDING MJOLNIR. Loki whispered out the person's name, unable to speak any louder.

"Thor?" Thor would never forget his brother's voice. He knew it was him, even without his eyes. Thor smiled with tears beading down his face.

"Loki... I missed you brother! I'm not dead Loki! I'm alive right here in front of you! Can you see that it's true!?" Something in Loki's mind snapped. His nose began to bleed. He started screaming LOUDLY as he fell to the ground. Vision managed to catch Loki's head, and Wanda lead Thor over to them so Thor could take over cradling Loki and help him erase his brainwashing. At that moment Clint, eyes no longer glowing blue, stopped struggling and just asked what the he11 was going on. Tony and Pepper let Clint up, but didn't answer his question. Instead they watched as Loki writhed in pain in Thor's arms. Thor cried upon feeling his brother practically seizing against him and held Loki to his chest.

"LOKI! FIGHT IT! FIGHT THE INVADERS IN YOUR MIND! YOU CAN DO IT! JUST HOLD ONTO ME! I'M RIGHT HERE BROTHER! LOKI PLEASE!" Loki screamed. Memories were flowing through his head too fast for him to keep track of, memories that were far too blurry and were most definitely of some sort of brainwashing and memories of his past that were far too clear and Loki needed to sort the clear from the blurry and it HURT! It hurt SO bad! This went on for a full minute. Finally, mercifully, the pain and the memories stopped flowing and the mind control was broken, permanently. Loki slipped into an unconscious state and slumped against Thor like a rag doll. Thor picked Loki up bridal style and stood.

"Lead me to the truck! We need to get moving!" The others all nodded before everyone started running, Thor's hood slipping off of his head as he ran, revealing his short hair with short sideswiped bangs. Natasha was behind Thor with a hand on his shoulder so she could warn him if he was about to crash into a wall. With the twists and turns and Thor's lack of sight he nearly did just that, several times. (He had turned off the mechanical eye for a moment because he was worried a magic surge from Loki, should he wake up and suddenly attack out of shock, would break it.). As they ran Loki slowly woke back up. The noise and his foggy mind was confusing him, but his sight was definitely NOT. He KNEW that face! Even with his alarmingly short hair and odd reflective glasses, Loki knew in his head that he recognized EXACTLY who's arms he was in, even as another part of his mind screamed at how impossible it was for that person to be here right now. It took another 30 seconds for Loki's brain to wake up fully before the reality of the situation clicked together in his mind. The young trickster cried when he FINALLY realized who was REALLY holding him. Loki lifted his arms and clung to Thor's neck, tears of joy rolling down his face as he poured out his heart.

"Th-Thor!? You're really still alive!? But how!? Heimdal said... he SHOWED us that you were dead! Father... he lifted my prison sentence and sent me to Earth to bring your body back home and bring your killers to justice! None of us EVER knew you were alive! It's a miracle! We missed you so much! What happened to you brother!? Thor I can't believe you live! I...I love you Thor! I never thought I would get a chance to say that to you ever again, but now I CAN! Oh my goodness Thor I love you brother! I'm never letting go of you again! EVER!" Thor sniffled and let his own tears fall even as he kept running.

"Oh Loki, I love you too! I've missed you every day! I promise I'll tell you everything later, but we need to get out of here before HYDRA recaptures us all!" Loki froze upon hearing what Thor said. His voice turned into barely a squeak.

"Thor!? No way... there's no WAY!" Thor shushed Loki. He hated hearing the fear and distress in Loki's voice.

"Yes I know it's terrible but all of us were forced or manipulated into being HYDRA agents same as you! THAT'S the reason I disappeared!" A distant explosion from one of Clint's explosive arrows made Loki squeal in surprise and fear. Thor held Loki closer. "Don't worry Loki! We're getting you out of here! I'll tell you everything later ok!? Just hold on tight to me! We're almost there! I've got you brother!" Loki just cried against Thor's shoulder, begging him not to let go. He had heard Thor's slip of the tongue. HYDRA. All this time it was HYDRA'S fault that Thor ever went missing! Loki had worked for the very organization that had taken his brother away from him! Thor had been subjected to horrors unknown by HYDRA and the trickster had actually been mind controlled and brain washed into doing their every bidding! Loki felt sick as these thoughts ran through his head.

A lot of Rhodey's bullets, a bunch of Peter's webs, a lot of impressive punching and kicking by Natasha, Bucky, and Steve, a few mind stone beams from Vision, a couple of REALLY impressive bolts of lightning and a lot of verbal warnings from Thor, ("That's weird" thought Loki" Why is Thor snapping his fingers and warning these random people he's running with before he attacks? And how is he even doing that while carrying me?") a few repulser blasts from Pepper and Tony, a few Hulk smashes, and one of Clint's perfectly shot arrows later, they were out of the building and were running for the trees of the nearby park. They all stopped upon seeing their truck. Bucky got behind the wheel and everyone else piled in where they could. Thor and Loki wound up in the bed of the truck, neither of them letting go of each other once Thor took off Loki's horns and clumsily (and Loki wondered why Thor's movements were less fluid than they used to be) gave them to Peter. The truck pulled away so fast that mud went flying out from under the tires. They drove without a word between anyone for five minutes before stopping in front of a gas station. Steve spoke after opening the truck's side door and stepping outside along with everyone else (except Tony, who decided to just open the back slide view window and stick his head out to listen with his head resting on his arms).

"Alright everyone, great job tonight! The mission is ALMOST done now! We just gotta get Loki back to HQ so he can rest and get medical treatment, but first let's call this in to the cops. Rhodey go inside with Pepper and report that base to the police. Pepper, please ask an attendant to come out and fill our gas tank. We should all know by now that Jersey is that crazy state that made it illegal to pump gas yourself. But don't let the attendant out for a few minutes. We gotta talk to Loki." Rhodey and Pepper nodded and exited the truck to do as instructed. Loki was clutching Thor in a practically inescapable hold. Thor was unconsciously running his hand through Loki's hair to calm them both down as he held him. He wasn't sure how long ago he actually started doing that. Thor sighed.

"I'm guessing you want an explanation for all of this?" Loki nodded and spoke in a slightly pained voice.

"Um... if ALL of you are former HYDRA agents, including... including my brother...then what are your asset names? I want to trust you, but I've been lied to and manipulated for too long and my mind wants proof." The Avengers could understand Loki's viewpoint well. Too well in fact. The others gathered in and around the truck. Tony spoke first, still in the back seat of the truck with his head sticking out of the open slide view window.

"Sure we'll tell you. This is a good opportunity for introductions. The girl that went inside the gas station is Pepper Potts. Her asset name is Rescue. The boy who went inside is Rhodey. His asset name is War Machine. My name is Tony Stark. My asset name is Iron Man." Wanda spoke next.

"My name is Wanda Maximoff, asset name Scarlet Witch. This is Vision. His asset name is... well it's just Vision. His situation is complicated because he's an artificially created cyborg. HYDRA named him when they made him. Vision is mute, but I can telepathically talk to him and we both know sign language. Vision says it's nice to meet you." The rest of the team said their names one at a time, with Peter going first, and putting a tiny smile on Loki's face as he did so. Little Peter was still holding Loki's horns and showing that he loved it enthusiastically.

"I'm Peter Parker! My asset name is Spider-Man! I like your horns Mr.Loki !"

"Steve Rodgers here. My asset name is Captain America. I'm the leader of this little group."

"Call me Sam Wilson. My asset name is Falcon."

"Bucky Barnes here. Asset name: the Winter Soldier."

"Natasha Romanoff. Asset name: Black Widow."

"Dr. Bruce Banner. Yes I'm an actual doctor. Asset name: The Hulk."

"I'm known as Clint Barton. My asset name is Hawkeye. Your mind control was REALLY annoying dude!" Loki looked at Clint guiltily.

"I am SO sorry about that! I would have never done that to you if HYDRA hadn't-" Clint cut Loki off again.

"I know Loki. It's ok. No one actually got hurt from it, so as long as you don't do that again we're all good. Anyway you meet all of us, so that just leaves your brother." Loki looked at Thor worriedly. Thor didn't seem to be looking at Loki, which he found confusing. Thor realized that Loki was waiting for him to talk. He sighed.

"Yeah. My asset name is Static Slayer. You um... you can tell us yours if you want to brother." Loki looked completely heartbroken as he sighed and leaned his head on Thor's shoulder.

"They called me the Liesmith. I think they took that name out of the Norse mythology books of this world because I don't know how else they would have gotten it. I believe I was brought into HYDRA sometime after coming here to Midgard on my mission from Odin, our Father. Father said in exchange for no longer serving a prison sentence for my earlier actions in Asgard, I could go to Earth and attempt to retrieve Thor's body, since we all thought he was dead, and locate Mjolnir to bring back home if possible. I don't know how he expected me to get the hammer since I previously couldn't even lift it, but I accepted the mission anyway. I basically just slept at night in some random abandoned building in New Mexico while walking around Thor's last known location and trying to use my magic to detect Mjolnir's magical signature during the day. A few days into my search, I wound up getting kidnapped and brainwashed into thinking HYDRA could help me reap vengeance on the ones responsible for the supposed death of my brother. I had no idea that THEY were the ones who took my brother away from me, or that Thor actually lived. I... I still can't believe he's really alive! It's nothing short of a miracle!" Loki hugged Thor closer to him. "Thor... how did you wind up with these other kids? If you're free of HYDRA, why didn't you come home? And what happened to your hair?" Thor spoke sadly.

"HYDRA cut my hair off the day they kidnapped me from New Mexico. It was actually on the day of your prison sentencing. That's why I never showed up to help defend you against your punishment. I would come home to Asgard if I could Loki, but something seems to be keeping me from Heimdal's sight, otherwise he would have activated the Bifrost by now. I think it's the same for you or else Heimdal would have whisked us both back to Asgard two years ago. It's not because I haven't learned my lesson. I have Mjolnir back after all! Where is Mjolnir anyway?" Loki was confused and worried about the reason why Thor didn't know where his hammer was. Thor was surprised to feel said hammer being placed in his hand by someone else. Wanda spoke.

"Vision says he grabbed it without thinking when you were carrying Loki." Thor's mouth was hanging open.

"Vision... anyone who can lift my hammer is worthy of the throne of Asgard. You just became an heir to the throne." The others were all too shocked to speak for a solid minute as they processed that information. Wanda spoke again.

"Viz says you can keep your throne. He doesn't want it. He knows that it's important to you, and your friendship matters more to him than power." Thor smiled.

"Thank you Vision. You're a great friend. Anyway Loki, this isn't just any random group of kids. We have a name." Loki raised an eyebrow. Steve responded after that.

"We call ourselves the Avengers. We're a group of former child soldier HYDRA agents, just like you and Thor, dedicated to destroying HYDRA, avenging their victims, and defending the innocent from their evil ways. We live and work together as a team, trying to bring HYDRA to justice. We can't do much without being able to internationally travel, but we can still take down HYDRA agents slinking in and around New York so they can't hurt any more kids like us, at least around here. All of us are victims of HYDRA's kidnapping, torture, mutilation, manipulation, experimentation, and mind control. The original Avengers, that's me, Bucky, Tony, Sam, Rhodey, Pepper, Natasha, Bruce, and Clint, all escaped HYDRA together over two years ago. A month and a half ago we rescued Thor, Wanda, Vision, and Peter while on a mission to take down another HYDRA cell. They all agreed to join our group and work to help us defeat HYDRA, and have been living with us ever since. We make a point to recruit other kid victims of HYDRA like us, and help each other regain... well maybe not normal, but good, fulfilling, purposeful lives. So Loki... you wanna join us? You can help us make sure HYDRA never hurts you OR your brother, or any other kids like us ever again. How does that sound?" Loki looked at Thor ("Seriously" he thought, "why isn't Thor LOOKING at me!? I thought he would have asked about my lips and my leg by now? And what's up with those glasses?") for about 5 seconds before he looked back and gave his answer.

"Thank you for saving me and my brother. Asgard owes you all a great debt for rescuing the sons of the crown, and I personally owe you my thanks as well for saving me AND my elder brother. As for your offer, that sounds EXACTLY like what I want to do. Count me in. I'll make sure that HYDRA NEVER touches my brother again, or me, or any of us for that matter!" Steve smirked.

"Well then, welcome to the Avengers Loki! I think you'll fit in well." Steve stood you and hopped out of the truck bed. "Ok the plan for right now is to get back to our headquarters so we can get you patched up and feed. We'll talk more later once we're somewhere private. Natasha, make sure Loki doesn't have a tracker on him. Everyone else quiet down so the gas station workers don't hear anything else about us. Team Break!" Natasha quickly determined that Loki was tracker free. Everyone found their previous places in the truck. Soon the call to the cops was finished, the gas was pumped and payed for, and the team was back on the road to New York. Loki, still trembling and weeping in fear, clung to Thor as though his elder brother would disappear if he let go. Thor hugged Loki close and buried his hand in his little brother's hair as carefully as possible as the truck drove on.

"Oh little brother, what have those heathens DONE to you!? You're crying and shaking and you're still so scared. I'll make HYDRA PAY for causing you all this pain! How badly did they really hurt you!?" Loki was still clinging to Thor tightly, ignoring how childish he felt as he cried into Thor's shoulder.

"Thor it was so awful! Everything they did was unbearable! But the worst pain was thinking I failed to save you before you were killed! It was all my fault! If I hadn't done that dumb prank then you wouldn't have flown off the handle, and you would have never been banished to Earth for your actions, and you would have been there when I found out about the adoption, and you might have been able to keep me from acting reckless, and I wouldn't have tried to kill you!" Loki gasped for a moment. "OH MY GOODNESS I TRIED TO KILL YOU! THOR I'M SO SORRY! Brother I will never try to kill you again! In fact I'll do BETTER than that! I promise that I'll keep you safe from now on Thor! I'll keep you safe from any danger that comes your way for the rest of our lives! I PROMISE! I never wanna loose you again!" Thor held his brother close and shushed Loki softly.

"This isn't your fault brother. You never wanted this. I know you'll keep me safe Loki. You always have and you always will. You're not gonna loose me Loki. I'm right here brother. I'll always be right here from now on. Let's agree to never let others keep secrets from us again, alright?" Loki could only nod while sticking his head into the crock of Thor's neck. Wanda sent Thor a mental image of Loki doing so. That's when Thor finally realized that Loki was hurt. Thor sniffled and held Loki as gently as he could. "I know you're in pain Loki, but it'll get better. I promise it will!" Loki still cried.

"Brother I'm a freak! They cut off my leg Thor! They sawed through it barely two inches below the knee! They made me WATCH! Then they replaced it with a metal limb! They sewed my lips shut! I had to slice through the thread with a knife! I know it'll leave scars! They ACTUALLY silenced my silver tongue! ME! Asgard would be ashamed! Not to mention they probably think I'M dead now too! HYDRA practically kept me in a lightless soundproof COFFIN for two months after all! All Asgard would need is a glimpse of me getting put into that to be convinced! I'm so embarrassed for myself! How can I POSSIBLY face our home again when... when I'm like THIS!? I couldn't handle the humiliation!" Thor attempted to stifle a gasp and tried to stop his hand from moving towards Loki's legs to see if what Loki said was true, but Loki still noticed it. That concerned Loki. The others could see the prosthetic leg from under his pants, and they could see his lips, but how did Thor NOT notice!? Thor let more tears roll down his face.

"Loki, you're not a freak, and you have nothing to be ashamed of. If there's ANYONE in the nine realms who understands the pain of what HYDRA has done to you, it's everyone in this group right here. Anyone that ridicules you for it will answer to us! We are going to help you brother! Trust us!" Loki sniffled.

"I'll try Thor. I'll try." Loki spent the rest of the truck ride letting himself stay wrapped up in his big brother's arms. He didn't bother looking at the city around them as they drove by. He was too busy looking at his brother's face and worrying about what painful secrets Thor was trying to hide. Soon enough the truck pulled into the Avengers garage. Thor, worried that Loki may be physically and mentally weakened from shock, bloodloss, and his earlier fainting episode, which Wanda told him about through telepathy, decided to support Loki's weight as they made their way to the common room. The elder brother instructed Loki to hold onto him as they went. Thor helped Loki stand up and walk to the edge of the truck by keeping an arm wrapped around Loki's waist while his other hand held onto Mjolnir, which Loki confusingly noticed that Thor had morphed into a long umbrella and was attempting to tap it along the floor furtively in front of him. Thor hopped off the truck bed first and turned around to lift Loki off of it before assuming their previous position. It was then that Loki noticed that Thor was limping and gasped.

"Thor you've been hurt! Your leg is injured! You shouldn't be bearing my weight on top of yours! You could make it worse!" Thor didn't turn his head (Why wouldn't Thor LOOK at him!?), but he smiled sadly.

"I'm ok Loki. It's nothing I can't handle. I'll get Bruce to look at my leg after you've been taken care of. Oh, could someone please get Loki some hygienic supplies at the corner store, and go into my drawers and find a fresh set of clothes for Loki to change into? I kept a few things around his size." Thor chuckled to himself. "I had a dream last week that we would be reunited little brother. This dream gave me hope that we would be together again one day. I had a feeling that I might find you some day soon Loki. I've been preparing for you, hoping that you would stay with me. I know that you may want to go back to Asgard, but if you want to stay with me until we find a way to get home together, you can do that. We have more then enough space." Loki finally cracked a small smile.

"OBVIOUSLY I'm staying with you! Did you not hear me before when I said I'm never letting you go again? There's no WAY I'm leaving this planet without you you big oaf! I was supposed to bring you home after all! Still I must say, I'd rather fail to bring you home immediately if it means I'll be able to keep you with me ALIVE instead of as a corpse, even if we DO need to live on Midgard. Though I would very much like to be able to at least communicate with mother every once in awhile." Thor chuckled.

"Knowing you, you'll be able to find a way back home on your secret paths very soon. Though I would hope that you would let us come back to visit the Avengers. I promise to let you know when I'm ready once you do figure it out." Loki was suddenly confused again.

"Ready? You mean you're not ready now?" They all finally arrived in the common room, with Thor and Loki following behind Clint all the way there. Loki looked around curiously. He had to admit that he was impressed by the art, but he didn't look very closely. The other Avengers left the room, both to get the building ready for Loki and to give the brothers some privacy. They knew that this conversation was about to get very emotional, and they didn't want to intrude. Thor lead Loki over to a couch, pulling his hands gently and getting Loki to sit down next to him. They sat angled towards each other. Loki noticed that Thor didn't seem to be directing his gaze in any specific direction. Thor sighed and tipped his head forward so it looked like he was looking at his lap (even though Loki didn't know that he wasn't).

"Loki, you're not the only Avenger with a disability. EVERYONE in our group is afflicted by SOMETHING, often because HYDRA hurt us all in some way. We all know what it's like adjusting to lives with that reality." Loki's eyes widened. The trickster felt dread rising up in his mind. His hands started to shake even as they held Thor's and he spoke frantically, his heart feeling like it it was hammering in his chest so heard it would break through.

"Disability? Hurt? Everyone? What? Thor you're worrying me! Brother what are you saying!?" Thor didn't say a word. He didn't even turn his head. Loki felt sick again. "Thor why won't you look at me!?" The thunderer still didn't move or speak, except to shake his head no. That's when Loki started putting together all of Thor's weird actions. Not noticing that Loki was hurt AND an amputee, Warning his teammates before attacking so they wouldn't accidentally get hurt, Using his hammer as a tool to tap the ground in front of him, Not seeing that he didn't have Mjolnir back at the gas station, Not looking at his brother's face! It had to be related somehow! Something! Was! WRONG! Loki's eyes suddenly went cold. He gently placed a shaking hand on the cheek of Thor's face and spoke in an authoritative voice.

"Thor... WHAT DID THEY DO TO YOU!? Tell me RIGHT NOW!" Thor sniffled and wiped a tear away before loosening the hold of the athletic straps on his glasses and putting his free hand over Loki's on his face.

"Loki... all you have to do to know... is to just LOOK at me." Thor maneuvered Loki's hand so Loki was holding his glasses. Loki allowed Thor to do so out of confusion and concern. Thor kept talking. "Oh how I wish..." Thor slowly moved Loki's hand with his, pulling up his glasses higher and higher. "... that I could look at you too." Thor, moving his own hand painfully slow, made Loki's shaking hand pull the glasses off of his head all the way. The moment the glasses were off and Loki saw Thor's eyes, he felt like the world had stopped turning. His brother's eyes... they had changed. One was CLEARLY a mechanical replacement for his real eye, much like Loki's leg, but the other eye is the one that gave Loki all the information he was missing. Loki was so shocked and confused that he dropped the glasses to the ground. His alarm grew further when Thor didn't even bother moving to pick them up off the ground. He didn't even look to see them fall! That's when Loki realized... Thor couldn't look at anything at all. Loki quietly choked out a gasp.

"Thor..." Loki brought both of his shaking hands up to Thor's face, putting one back on his cheek and letting the other pet over Thor's forehead to swipe his hair back, despite how short the sideswiped look was. "THOR..." The trickster looked VERY closely at Thor's eyes. He could see all of the faded scarring around the edges of both eyes, and the dull grey color of the non mechanical one. Neither eye was attempting to make contact with Loki's eyes at all. Now he understood why. Loki's breath hitched. Tears once again fell down his face, and he sobbed as he spoke. "OH THOR! THOR YOUR EYES! YOU'RE... YOU'RE BLIND!" Thor put his hand over the one Loki had on his face again.

"I know Loki... I know. It's okay brother." Loki gasped again, the sound choking out in shock on the end.

"OKAY!? NO IT'S NOT OKAY! Brother you're BLIND! I'm an AMPUTEE! HYDRA... THEY ARE MONSTERS! They cut off my LEG! They STOLE your EYES! We have been BUTCHERED! MUTILATED! NONE OF THIS IS OKAY THOR!" Loki's breath was shaky and raspy. Anger welled up inside of him... anger at HYDRA for permanently injuring him and his brother so horribly.

"They will pay. THEY WILL PAY FOR THIS! I WILL FIND EVERY HYDRA AGENT THAT EVER WOUNDED YOU AND I WILL MAKE THEM WISH THEY WERE NEVER BORN! I'LL SEARCH THE WHOLE PLANET IF I HAVE TO! NO ONE HURTS MY ELDER BROTHER AND GETS AWAY WITH IT!" Loki accidentally pressed his nails into Thor's cheek hard enough to hurt. Thor's eyes watered from the sting. The sight of his brother's dead looking eyes welling up with unshed tears was enough to temporarily quill Loki's anger and make him start worrying again. Guilt, sympathy, brotherly love, and sadness were all clearly seen on his face, clear to everyone except THOR that is. The trickster loosened his hold on Thor's face, (he wished he could heal the marks he accidentally made, but his Seider was depleted) then gently started moving Thor's head back and fourth to examine him, thinking that he would possibly be able to find evidence of any other injuries, especially ones that might clue him in on what had caused his big brother to go blind.

"WHERE ELSE WERE YOU INJURED!? HOW DID THIS HAPPEN TO YOU!? WHAT TERRIBLE THINGS DID HYDRA DO TO TAKE YOUR VISION!? DOES IT HURT!? PLEASE TELL ME YOUR EYES DON'T HURT!" Loki's breath hitched. He was so sad and worried, just as Thor predicted he would be. Thor leaned into Loki's touch to try to comfort him. Loki cried and kept talking. "OH THE WORLD MUST SEEM SO DARK AND COLD TO YOU! YOU MUST HAVE FELT SO ALONE! HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN LIVING LIKE THIS!? HOW LONG IS IT GOING TO LAST!?" Thor shushed Loki gently and squeezed one of the hands he felt on his face lightly, keeping it placed there overtop.

"It's alright Loki! REALLY it's alright! I promise that my eyes do not cause me pain. It doesn't hurt." Loki sighed with marginal relief, because the lack of pain helped relieve one of his questions, but he was still FAR from ok. Looking into his brother's sightless eyes brought him an INDESCRIBABLE pain he couldn't bare to feel. Thor kept talking.

"This actually happened RIGHT before I was rescued. HYDRA did an experiment with magical snake venom that didn't go right. It... it basically melted away my one eye until it was so beyond hope that removing it was the only option. The mechanical replacement was a gift from Tony, not a HYDRA product. My other eye is still there, but I can't see anything out of it. There's nothing but black. The bionic eye offers one TYPE of vision to help me out a little bit, which I'll tell you about later, but I can't use it all the time or else it'll give headaches. Just to be clear, it's not the eye ITSELF, but my overuse of the eye that does that. When it's not turned on I have no headaches, but everything goes back to total black again. I don't think magic is going to work to heal me Loki. The venom was too potent, and the magic would probably interfere with any that tried to heal the damage. This is most likely going to be a permanent condition." Loki's heart felt like it broke into a thousand pieces in that moment. This was SO much worse than he thought it would be. Surprisingly to Loki, Thor kept going.

"Loki please listen to me before you blame yourself! This is NOT your fault ok!? No matter how I was sent to Midgard, no matter why you were here, this was NOT YOUR CHOICE. You didn't decide for this to be done. This, my eyes, your leg, the various conditions of our teammates, this is HYDRA'S FAULT, no one else's. They took all of us, still children in the eyes of this world, and did things that can't be taken back easily, if at all. However, we have all accepted that we cannot do things the same way as everyone else can. HYDRA damaged every single one of us, but we do not let our disabilities and difficulties stop us from fighting back! We ADAPT! We don't give in and neither will you and I ok!? This is not the end of the world! I refuse to give up on finding hope in my new life simply because HYDRA stole my old life from me! Please, promise me that you won't give up either Loki?" Loki continued to cry and pet his hand through Thor's hair.

"Thor... I'm sorry I wasn't there for you when you were first adjusting to this. I wish I could have been there to help and support you, or prevent this from happening in the first place. However... I'm here for you now. You protected me and cared for me tonight, but starting tomorrow, it's MY turn to protect and care for YOU!" Thor was about to interject, but Loki cut him off. "Please let me finish talking before you say no?" Thor nodded and Loki kept going.

"I... I know that you won't want me coddling you Thor, and I respect that. You wouldn't have been able to help save me tonight if you were helpless. You're the strongest person I know. Even now that's true. You're taking this on so much better that I would ever have been able to. It's an inspiration to me to be honest. If you want to fight then I promise to fight by your side. I won't treat you like you're helpless. Just... just promise me that you'll let me take care of you? I just... I CAN'T sit back and do absolutely nothing after seeing you like-" Loki cut himself off because he didn't know if Thor was ok with him using the word see so casually. "Sorry, I meant after LEARNING ABOUT all of this! I just-" Thor interjected.

"Loki, you can use sight related words around me. I understand that they're a regular part of every day language. It's just how regular people talk. I'm not offended." Loki sniffled.

"A-alright. I understand. Brother, I know you're not an invalid, but I don't want you to ever be ashamed of needing help or asking for it if you do. You... you may not be able to see it with your eyes, but I want you to know that you don't have to do this alone even so! I'll always be here whether you can see that I am or not! I promise not to give up on life, and I won't let you give up either! I love you Thor! I'll find a way to prove it to you every day if I must in order to show you! Please, promise to let me be there for you brother!" Thor smiled softly.

"Alright, I promise brother. You can take care of me to your heart's content. Just remember to actually ASK me if I need help with things before assuming I do. I do still have quite a few independent living skills after all, at least here on Earth. We can figure this all out together ok?" Loki nodded before remembering that Thor couldn't see it and deciding to just hug him instead.

"Thank you Thor. I promise to try my best." They hugged silently for a full minute before Thor started talking again.

"Now that you're done freaking out about MY problems-"

"Oh I'm FAR from done freaking out. I'm just taking time to process this before the next round of questions and predictably heartbreaking answers that are bound to come up." Loki had cut Thor off mid sentence. Thor kept going.

"EITHER WAY... now it's MY turn to freak out about YOUR problems!" Loki blushed. Embarrassment slipped into his voice.

"Wh-What? Thor you don't need to worry about ME! I'm FINE!" Thor narrowed his sightless eyes for the soul purpose of looking more intimidating and brushed his thumb over Loki's lips.

"Wanda has the power to show people different memories. She projected her memory of what you look like tonight into my mind. I have the picture in my head! I can feel that you're still shaking! I can hear the frantic way that you breath! I can feel the blood on my fingers Loki! Your lips are still bleeding, you're pale and exhausted looking, and let's not forget that HYDRA made you WATCH as they CUT OFF YOUR LEG! WHAT THE HE11 LOKI!? YOU HAD TO WATCH AS THEY SEWED YOUR MOUTH CLOSED WITH A NEEDLE AND THREAD! YOU HAD TO CUT YOUR OWN MOUTH OPEN AGAIN TO BREAK THE THREAD, AND YOU'RE STILL BLEEDING FROM THAT! YOU WITNESSED YOURSELF LOOSE A LIMB! YOU WERE MIND CONTROLLED TO THE POINT OF NEAR MURDER! YOU WERE KEPT ALONE IN A SMALL DARK SOUNDLESS BOX FOR TWO MONTHS! THEY TORTURED YOU! THEY MADE YOU THINK I WAS DEAD! YOU ONLY JUST FOUND OUT I WAS ALIVE TWO HOURS AGO AND YOU'RE STILL PROCESSING THAT YOUR NOT DEAD BROTHER IS NOW BLIND! HECK YOU'RE PROBABLY STILL PROCESSING THAT YOU WERE ADOPTED FROM JOTUNHEIM AND THAT FATHER LIED TO US ABOUT IT! HOW CAN YOU POSSIBLY BE FINE AFTER THAT!?" Loki clung to Thor tighter.

"Yeah well all of that happened to you too except the box and the lips and the leg thing! You're one to talk Thor!" Thor wiped the blood off of his thumb and then lovingly started carding his fingers through Loki's hair again. He hugged him close and spoke with a no nonsense tone in his voice.

"Maybe, but your injuries are MUCH more recent to me! Loki you're STILL shaking! How DARE they traumatize you like that Loki!? And how DARE they let you and our loved ones think I actually DIED!? I don't care if you're adopted or not, or from where! I love you anyway! NO ONE hurts MY little brother, OR lives to tell the tale! They won't get away with it! I will make HYDRA PAY! Loki, as long as I live I will always protect you! I promise!" Loki sniffled. He had no words to describe how truly amazing it was to feel safe and loved once again after so long in the clutches of HYDRA. All he could do was say thank you and promise the same. Thor hiccuped before speaking one more time.

"It's alright now little brother. You're safe now. I won't let you think less of yourself because you have one less limb. We can help you adjust your life so your disability doesn't stop you from being you! We'll help you get better. And Loki, I don't need my eyes to see that you love me. I already know you do. By the way, I love you too." Loki cried against Thor's chest, saying thank you many, MANY times, and expressing his absolute joy at having Thor back in his life again. Five minutes later Wanda and Bruce walked in with smiles on their faces. It killed Loki inside when he realized in that moment that his brother was never going to see anyone smile at him ever again. Wanda was carrying a bottle of water and a reusable straw (they had gotten the reusable straws for free thanks to a coupon from a grocery store in the Bronx) sticking out of it. She spoke calmly.

"Hey guys. You mind if Bruce takes a look at you two? He was getting concerned about leaving you unattended like this for so long and wants to treat your injuries. Oh and Loki, I took the liberty of arranging a drink for you. Do you use drinking straws on Asgard? Im sure you'll figure it out, but basically I thought you could drink by putting a straw through the corner of your mouth to avoid letting your cut up lips touch anything until they heal properly. Thor told us you have healing magic, but I'm pretty sure you're too drained to use it right now, so you're gonna have to recover the old fashioned way for awhile." Wanda put the bottle on the coffee table. Loki smiled softly and wiped his tears with one hand, the other still wrapped around Thor's neck in a hug. He used his free hand to reach over and take a long gulp of the water Wanda brought with her until it was all gone before speaking again.

"Thank you for your kindness Lady Wanda and Dr. Banner. Your assistance is most appreciated." Bruce put out his hand for Loki to take so he could help him walk to the nurses office.

"It's no trouble at all Loki, especially for a new friend. Now let's get you fixed up."

Loki had been completely terrified when Bruce said one of the cuts on his lips needed stitches. The memory of getting his lips sewn shut came up and gave Loki a flashback. Thor had hugged Loki close and told him he would never let THAT happen again. Loki was almost DEFINITELY going to receive a PTSD diagnosis tomorrow. Eventually though Loki's medical treatment was finished, and Bruce started with Thor. Loki continued to cling to Thor's arm as Bruce examined his brother, afraid that Thor would have MORE permanent damage done to him then he already did. Thankfully, Thor had a normal sprained ankle that would heal in a few weeks. Loki had sighed in relief while Thor just smiled. Thor decided to temporarily morph Mjolnir into a crutch to accommodate the injury. After that Steve handed Loki a change of clothes and said he could go put them on. Loki quickly stepped off behind the frayed curtain in the nurses office to change his clothes and came back out barely two minutes later. Thor just changed into whatever shirt Loki threw at him from behind the curtain because there was an extra in the clothing set he received and Thor's old shirt was stained in Loki's blood. Later on Loki wound up having to tell his brother that the shirt was on backwards. Thor just groaned and said that he just couldn't seem to avoid doing that at least once a week. Once their injuries and clothes were taken care of, Thor and Loki sat curled up next to each other wrapped up in blankets back on the same couch in the common room from before (Thor admitted that physical contact was the best way for him to know that someone was there, and Loki was still in disbelief that Thor was ALIVE, so Loki got as close to Thor as anatomically possible. Loki had also apologized for accidentally clawing Thor's face early. Thor accepted the apology ) and sipped hot tea brought to them by Pepper, with Loki using the straw. The beverage helped to calm their nerves. It even helped Loki to stop shaking. Thor and Loki had a talk about what Loki should expect to happen in the coming days, and what Thor has been doing since he came to this place. Loki was really curious now that he was more in control of his raging emotions again, so he looked at Thor, (who had decided to just keep his glasses off so Loki could adjust to seeing his eyes without them) and decided to ask his questions.

"So... you all just live here? By yourselves? No parents or assistants? Just eleven teenagers and a child?" Thor smiled.

"Yep. This is OUR headquarters. All of us are considered "emancipated" meaning we are legally allowed to live without guardians, except for Peter. Tony owns the whole building, so we can do whatever we want in here with no one to disturb us. We've adapted the place to fit our individual needs. I of course am included in this, as you shall be Loki. We all contribute to the physical, mental, and financial wellbeing of the building and the group by sharing objects and household responsibilities and working whatever odd jobs we can." Thor took a sip of his tea before speaking again.

"We have the apartment units divided among ourselves. I've actually had a two bedroom apartment all to myself this whole time. I... I was hoping that I would be able to reconnect with my friends and family and have them visit or something. I promised the Avengers that I would take down HYDRA with them, and I don't feel like I should stop living on Midgard until I've done that. However, I didn't want to isolate myself from my loved ones while living here, so I chose an apartment with extra space. You have the right to choose your own apartment if you stay here Loki, but I was wondering, if you wouldn't mind sharing with me if you stay? I wouldn't mind your company. After all... I really have missed you." Loki smiled, allowing his pleasure to seep into his voice.

"Of course brother! I'd be honored! I said I would stay by your side right? If you feel that you need to stay here on Earth then that's what I'll do too! Besides, I know how terrible you used to be at keeping your chambers clean, and I simply MUST judge for myself how awful you truly are now that mother isn't here to bug you!" Thor snorted with laughter.

"Hey I'm not so bad anymore! I've found that it's helpful to always keep everything in the exact same place because it makes things easier to find. I must say I wish I had figured that out sooner. Also, I'm glad you said yes. Thank you Loki." Loki took another sip of tea.

"And you're adjusting well to this lifestyle? Is it hard for you? And how do the missions come into play?" Thor shifted a little closer to Loki.

"For HYDRA hunting missions, we gather intel basically by keeping our ears open to chatter coming from the... less legal... parts of town. We investigate rumors for any base or hideout we can reach in our truck or by walking, and after making sure we get any captured civilians out of there, including super kids like all of us, then we find the nearest phone that we don't own to report the HYDRA location to the cops, and we hightail it out of there as fast as possible. We use other phones so HYDRA can't hack into ours to disrupt the arrest process. HYDRA... they seem to be focusing A LOT of activity on New York City for some reason. We're working to investigate why. Anyway, Tony built or found and repaired most of our cellphones, and adapted the technology for individual use. Mine can read and send text messages to me using an automated voice and a microphone based recording system. When we're not doing that, we're making money or training, or preparing to go to school in autumn. It can be difficult to find things we need sometimes. We have to get pretty creative to counteract that. We don't have a lot of money, in fact we're all basically dirt poor, but we're happy as long as we have everything we need and each other. It's not easy, but it works, and we're ok with that. I like to imagine that mother and father would be happy that I'm learning how to appreciate the lives of people who are less fortunate that us. I hope that one day, when I'm ready to be king, that I can use this experience to make fair decisions for people of all kinds of economic status, because I know how difficult struggles with money can be." Loki made a small humming sound.

"I have to say I think I agree with that sentiment about our parents appreciating the lessons you're learning here about people of other levels of wealth." Loki sipped his tea again. "What was up with the Mjolnir as an umbrella thing? I noticed you tapping it along the ground. It IS called an umbrella right? I'm still unfamiliar with some parts of Midgardian culture." Thor sipped more tea.

"I use Mjolnir as a walking cane occasionally. I tap it in front of me to help make sure I'm not going to walk into or off the edge of something. Using canes that way is a common method for the blind to utilize. It's more discrete to make it look like an umbrella... and yes that's what it was called...when I'm out in public. Plus, the actual umbrella function is still there. I don't always like to using a cane, but sometimes it's necessary. I kind of just have to deal with it. Occasionally I just let whichever Avenger I'm walking with hold hands with me and bring me along wherever they go. It's most natural with Peter. People often think Peter is the younger brother of one of the Avengers, and we don't bother to correct them because that way less people question why he's living with us instead of an adult. It's kind of true in our opinion anyway. We all view Peter as a little brother figure or something similar to a position in a family dynamic. He's young and other people think it's cute to see Peter holding hands with us, so when he holds hands to help me it all works out and no one really questions why he's doing it." Loki took a moment to process that before speaking again.

"What exactly IS Peter's situation? He's so young compared to the rest of us. As you say, it's odd for Peter to not live with an adult in the eyes of Earth's law enforcement. If he's not emancipated as you say then how is he living here?" Thor smiled.

"Peter is the lucky one in the group. He has a living family member, his aunt in fact, who has legally adopted him as her own. However she works out of town frequently, and she thought Peter would be happier living in New York City with the Avengers team, so Peter stays with us most of the time. He has a bedroom in Tony and Pepper's apartment unit. He's polite, responsible, and extremely intelligent. He loves doing whatever he can to help out around the building or to help us make money or find supplies. We all love that kid. His positivity is contagious!" Loki smiled and sipped more tea.

"So, how did you manage to gain legal status on a foreign planet anyway? You're not exactly from anywhere around here, and you didn't have legal records here last I checked." Thor sipped his own tea again before responding.

"The day after we were rescued from HYDRA, I and the other second wave Avengers were brought to a government facility that conducted evaluations of our physical and mental health. After their escape from HYDRA, the original Avengers were all evaluated at this facility as well. They're dedicated to helping kids like us. They created our legal records so we can live here with no trouble, and they provide us with some resources to accommodate our disabilities. They even gave me resources to learn Braille with Wanda!" Loki cocked an eyebrow.

"Braille? What's Braille?" Thor sighed.

"I'll tell you about that later, but first I need to tell you that we need to go to the facility tomorrow, because we need to conduct YOUR evaluation. This... this means that you need to talk to the doctors about what HYDRA did to you." Loki immediately started to protest this plan.

"WHAT!? NO WAY! IM NOT GOING TO-" Thor cut him off.

"Loki PLEASE!? Look, I know it sounds awful, and YEAH it sucks, but honestly, it gives you a sense of closure, as well as the information you need to start adapting your life. Besides if you're going to LEGALLY live here on Earth, you need legal records!" Loki gave Thor a look of indignation. Thor chuckled.

"I can't see it, but I can imagine that you have that look on your face that you get when you don't want to admit that I'm right. Yeah it's not going to be fun, but I had to do it too! If I can do it, then you can do it too. Besides you won't be alone! All of the Avengers are coming to support you brother. Plus, I'll be right there by your side the whole time if you want ok?" Loki sighed.

"Alright Thor... I'll do it, but only because I'm serious about staying by your side no matter what. I can only hope that mother and father won't be too angry that we waited so long to at least come visit them once this is explained to them some day. So, is there anything else I need to decide on tonight?" Loki sipped more tea. Thor put an amused expression on his face.

"Well... how would you feel about going back to school together here on Midgard?" Loki spat a mouthful of his tea out in shock.

"I beg your PARDON!?" Thor laughed out loud.

"Ok, that reaction sounded REALLY funny! I wish someone would tell me how far your eyes look like they're popping out of your head!" Loki just looked at Thor with his shocked expression until he stopped laughing his head off. Thor sighed in contentment.

"Seriously though Loki, how would you feel about that? The lot of us... we know that if we want to have a future in this world, or at least attain real jobs that make more money than what we do now, then we need to get real educations. I don't know how long I'm going to be living on Earth, and I want to stay connected with my friends, so I've decided to go to school too. Once summer ends, the lot of us are going to be students, or tutors in the case of Tony and Bruce, at a school called SHIELD Technical Academy, or more simply put, STA. They have a middle school and a high school, so they cover grades 6-12. Peter is going to enter middle school in grade 6. The rest of us who are students are going to be in grade 9, making us high school freshmen. The school has accommodations for students with disabilities too. It's part of the reason I learned to read and write in Braille actually... though the other reason was that I was thinking of you." Loki looked confused again.

"This is the second time you've mentioned this 'Braille'. Now you just said you can READ and WRITE using it? Mind giving me an explanation?" Thor finished his tea and slowly put the mug on the coffee table to avoid banging it against the side by mistake. "Loki, do you see a book nearby? Wanda says the cover is green? Would you mind grabbing it and opening it up, then tell me what you see?" Loki cocked an eyebrow again, but he put down his own mug and did what Thor said. He was once again confused when he opened the book and he saw the dots and dashes inside.

"Thor, what the he11 am I looking at? These are just dots and dashes. How can ANYONE read this? I can't even read it myself!" Thor chuckled.

"What you're looking at is BRAILLE. I learned how to use it along with Wanda. It's a tactile writing system that let's you READ by FEELING the bumps that are on the page with your fingers. You can also write in Braille using a stylus and the embossed paper Braille is often printed on. I've been reading a ton of books in Braille that are sent to me through the government from the American Printing House for the Blind. I have several subjects that I particularly enjoy reading about. I finally understand why you were always so interested in reading brother! I'm almost as big a bookworm as you now Loki! I even had Braille versions of my textbooks printed so I can get a jumpstart on school. But Braille doesn't always need to be on paper. You can put it on other things too." Thor smirked. "Bruce and Tony created a substance we can use to put Braille marks on solid objects. We used it quite a lot. Wanda and I have Braille symbols strategically placed all over the building. All I need to do is touch them in order to read what they say to know exactly where I am. I am forever thankful to the facility for giving me the books I needed to relearn how to read through Braille. In fact, my evaluation and desire to read again helped me to finally figure out why I always had so much trouble with reading and writing as a child! Do you remember how I was always mixing up my letters and numbers when I was young? Apparently I truly wasn't just not trying hard enough! It turns out I had a common learning disability called Dyslexia this entire time! Once I learned about it and started learning strategies to counter the problem when reading in Braille, it became so much easier for me to read! I'm reading and writing better than I ever did before, and now I love it! We finally have something in common Loki!" Loki suddenly hugged Thor close, accidentally knocking the book off of his lap. Thor was confused, but he hugged Loki back anyway. Loki sniffled.

"I... am SO glad... that despite what you've lost... you've gained back so much more!" Thor smiled and just hugged Loki. Loki sniffled. "I... I WOULD like to go to school with you! I really would Thor! I say yes! I can't wait!" Thor smiled!

"I'm so happy for you Loki! Oh this is gonna be fun! We'll get you signed up for our school ASAP Loki! I promise!" Loki smiled. A moment later the call for dinner was sent out (which was spaghetti with sauce from jars. The two brothers had a small argument about who was going to grab their plates before Peter sweetly brought their plates, loaded with saucy pasta, over to the brothers for them, while WEARING Loki's horns! He said that he wasn't trying to steal them and would return them whenever Loki wanted, but he just wanted to see if he would look as awesome as the Asgardian prince did with them on. The trickster couldn't stop the intense feeling of brotherly love that arose in him for the young Spiderling. In that moment Loki vowed to always guard Peter with his life for the rest of his days.

Dinner itself was a surprisingly pleasant event. Loki was mildly impressed at Thor's dexterity with using the utensils considering that he couldn't even see what he was eating. The team had a group conversation with Loki about the other aspects of life in the avengers HQ apartment building. The trickster realized that he was in for quite a culture shock come the next day. They ate the Italian cookies they picked up earlier for dessert. Once dinner was done Thor lead Loki to his apartment (Thor saying that he memorized the door's position in comparison to the position of the couches in the common room) so they could sleep. Loki was holding his horns in his hand dangling down along his side, not resisting Thor's pull on him. Thor had one of his arms around Loki's waist again to support his brother while maneuvering crutch Mjolnir with his other arm to support himself. The brothers were too tired to attempt to brush their teeth or do anything else. Loki didn't bother trying to examine the design painted on the apartment door itself as he opened it for Thor with his free hand. Thor didn't even bother turning on any of the lights for Loki to see by (though he did keep a nightlight in his kitchen so anyone who needed to come see him in the middle of the night didn't have to stumble in the dark), instead carefully leading Loki up the stairs into his loft bedroom. The younger brother tossing his horns onto the somewhat chipped dresser top barely registered in his mind. The elder brother barely noticed leaning his hammer against the night stand. Loki didn't even question himself when he lazily threw off his prosthetic leg in no particular direction before automatically getting under the covers of his brother's bed with him. They had wordlessly agreed to just share a bed for the night like they had on occasion when they were younger and were trying to fend off bad dream with zero arguments. They were just that tired. The brothers fell asleep not even a minute after their heads hit the pillows, unconsciously gripping each other in a protective hold as they slept straight through the night.


	4. Chapter 4

(Series Summary: In an alternate universe, HYDRA has done a lot of personal damage to many of the heroes of Marvel. They truly are the victims of horrible trauma. They were taken as HYDRA agents by force, used as lab rats, abused, damaged, brainwashed, mind controlled, and HURT in ways that can't truly ever be fixed. Then they escaped, or were rescued, and they banded together to form a team. The Avengers are a group of ex child HYDRA agents who's mission is to one day destroy HYDRA for good. Their mission is not easy, and the life they live does not help lightning the load. Living with poverty, constantly being bullied, food insecurity, all different kinds of psychological conditions including PTSD, various disabilities and physical illnesses, and almost no family members to turn while working for cash in any way they can and dumpster diving by day and raiding secret HYDRA bases by night is hard enough, especially since they live together without ANY true adults. Adding in that none of the Avengers are 18 yet (at least in Earth years) just makes it harder. They've really only kept their hope Alive because they have each other for support, occasionally along with their mysterious advocate Mr. Coulson and the generosity of neighbors and strangers. However, the Avengers are survivors. They refuse to give up on the hope that HYDRA won't steal the futures they dream of, so they keep fighting any way they can.

Then one spring they start getting new teammates, and they gain more once summer rolls around. They definitely never imagined that they would receive allies from space! To think that everything changed the day the Avengers rescued a couple of new members during a HYDRA base raid, including a newly blinded boy who says his name is Prince Thor Odinson of Asgard. Then over a month later they rescue (and successfully recruit) Thor's brother Prince Loki Odinson, who is QUITE shocked to find out that Thor is not only blind, but is in fact ALIVE, especially considering that Thor was thought to be dead for over two years when his elder brother disappeared without a trace after his banishment ended! Thor meanwhile is shocked to learn that HYDRA had been holding Loki captive almost as long as they had held Thor, and that HYDRA had left Loki with one less leg than he had the last time he had seen him. Two weeks after Loki joins the Avengers, they rescue and recruit even MORE kids and expand the avengers even further! All of these new allies were welcome additions to the Avengers team, but when they realized that getting the Odinson brothers back to Asgard could lead to an interplanetary alliance? Well, that opened up a whole ton of new possibilities for the Avengers that could step up their small scale rebellion against HYDRA up big time! One thing is certain though, these kids are the best chance the world has of beating HYDRA once and for all.

This story will EVENTUALLY focus heavily on Thor and Loki at times so if you like the Brodinsons you're in the right place! You've just got be patient! Warning: In this story I take some creative liberties with science. This story also features characters who have debilitating permanent injuries such as characters with nerve damage, blindness, injury related deafness, or who are amputees, as well as characters with in born conditions like ADHD or learning disabilities. I mean no offense if I portray something incorrectly or something. All of the Avengers will have PTSD in this story. This is not a story for young children due to sensitive topics.)

(Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel or any Marvel Characters in any way, shape, or form)

(What's the difference between form and shape anyway?)

(Chapter Summary: Loki is evaluated, has a panic attack, and begins life with the Avengers. Loki is protective of his brother.)

Forged by Lightning, Rescued by Love

Chapter 4

—

The day began with an alarm ringing out across the building that immediately put the youngest Odinson on alert.

Loki literally jumped over top of Thor as though shielding his brother upon waking up to the sound of a VERY loud bell the next morning. He didn't even notice himself manifesting a knife to his hand from his pocket dimensions as he did so. HYDRA had made the knife reaction almost automatic for Loki, but the protective action of shielding Thor slightly surprised him. Even so, NO ONE was taking his brother from him a second time! Loki had technically mourned the loss of Thor for two years before getting hike back! He was NOT going to suffer the pain of loosing his brother EVER again after that! Anyone who DARED to so much as entertain the THOUGHT of trying to separate Loki from Thor after they had finally found each other again would find a dagger impaling them before they could even voice it! Loki curled around Thor possessively and resurrected a Seider shield around them. Thor, having always been naturally able to feel Loki's magic, wound up sputtering in shock from the action.

"What the heck Loki!? Why are you on top of me!?" Loki practically growled while looking around for potential dangers.

"WHAT THE HE11 IS THAT ALARM FOR!? ARE WE UNDER ATTACK!?" Thor, completely unfazed by the bell, groaned and gently pushed Loki off of him and back onto the other side of the mattress while sitting up.

"No... that's just our morning wake up call. Tony set it up to ring on days when we have somewhere to be at a certain time of day or something important is happening. It also usually acts as an indicator that breakfast is ready on mornings when the whole team eats together." Thor rubbed his face with his hand. "D 3n I'm hungry! Steve better be making pancakes for waking us up early!" Loki hesitantly vanished his weapon and watched carefully as Thor stood up from the bed, grabbed Mjolnir (still in crutch form), and yawned. "We should probably go down to the common room and grab some food before everyone else gets all the good stuff. Common room food is first come first serve around here! Though they may let you be first in line since you're the newbie. They did it for us the morning after Peter, Vision, Wanda and I were rescued from HYDRA after all." Loki was still just staring at Thor. Thor chuckled.

"Loki have you even moved at all? I can't hear you doing anything! Come on they're waiting for us!" This finally got Loki moving. He shuffled to the end of the bed before realizing he couldn't reach his prosthetic leg because he left it too far away to reach from the edge of the mattress. Loki groaned.

"Dang it! Sorry to hold you up but I need a minute to grab my..." Loki suddenly felt a fresh wave of embarrassment hit him and he couldn't finish his sentence. He had never actually been able to talk about things like this before. Thor smiled supportively.

"Your prosthetic is out of reach? It's alright, I get it. It's not hard to imagine the situation. Sometimes that happens to Natasha with her foot or Rhodey with his leg braces. I can grab it for you if you want." Loki blinked and perked his head up in surprise. He decided to use this as an opportunity to secretly test Thor's current abilities.

"Uh sure... but how will you know where it is if you can't see it and I don't tell you?" Thor smirked. Suddenly his bionic eye started glowing faintly and he snapped his fingers. Loki could suddenly feel a pulsating wave of static electricity running over him that made the hair on his arms stand on end, easily detectable with his seider. Once the wave dissipated Thor carefully walked with his (hammer) crutch directly over to where Loki's prosthetic leg was located and picked it up before walking over to Loki and giving it to him. "Ta Da! You like my little trick?" Loki's jaw was hanging open.

"How in the WORLD did you-"

"Echostatic Pulse!"

"What?" Thor chuckled.

"Remember how I said that my bionic eye has a type of vision to it? What it does is it lets me see electrical currents and signals, though it can't see anything else. It's powered by my own lightning. I figured out how to use that to locate objects by manipulating the electric impulses I send out with my lightning so it creates a sort of echolocation type effect. I call it an Echostatic Pulse. It took awhile to figure out, and I can really only use it along with my bionic eye as a support for the moment. Basically, I snap my fingers to send out the electric pulse and the mechanical eye lets me see the signal bouncing off of things. I honestly almost like it more than regular vision. It's helped me gain a lot more control over my lightning abilities. Now are you going to put your leg on so we can get breakfast?" Thor blinked. "WOW did that sound strange! Guess I'm not used to this yet. Sorry if that made you uncomfortable." Loki was still staring at his brother in awe.

"Thor... you are truly amazing." Thor smiled.

"Thank you Loki. That means a lot to me to hear you say that." Loki managed to finagle with his prosthetic and get it on quickly before standing up and walking next to Thor. Once they got to the apartment's front door though, Thor stopped.

"Hey Loki, you should look at the painting on my door! Steve painted it using my memories, shown to him through Lady Wanda. Wanda showed me her and Steve's memories of it too, so I know exactly what it looks like." Thor fumbled for the door knob and eventually opened the door. Loki gasped upon seeing the painting on the other side. He vaguely recognized the reflection of New Mexico on the bottom half of the painting, which was beautiful, but the portion on top that depicted Asgard truly took his breath away.

"Thor it's GORGEOUS! I wouldn't mind Steve remaking something like this mural on my bedroom door back in Asgard to be honest!" Thor smiled.

"I was thinking of asking Steve to do a second mural of Asgard on one of the bedroom doors in our apartment. You're entitled to having a painting done for you after all. It's a tradition around here for new members. We can talk about that later though. We're quite late for breakfast I think!" The two brothers finally exited the apartment, with the younger keeping a close and worried eye on the elder the whole time. Loki was still adjusting to having his brother alive again, not to mention blind. It was natural for him to be somewhat overprotective in response to the situation. The Avengers were soon all gathered in the common room together. Peter was the first to greet the two Asgardians.

"Good morning Mr. Loki and Mr. Thor! We've been waiting for you! Mr. Steve made pancakes! You're going to LOVE them Mr. Loki! Mr. Steve makes THE BEST pancakes! Oh and we're letting you get first dibs because you're the newest member Mr. Loki!" Loki and Thor smiled at the boy and thanked him for the greeting before ruffling his hair. Everyone ate breakfast. Loki DID love the pancakes, and ate two stacks. Once the dishes were done it was time to get ready for the day... and that's how Loki learned what a community bathroom was.

"You're kidding me..." said Loki as the door was opened and he peered inside for the first time. "ALL of you USE THIS? At the same time!? Both boys and girls? And you're just... ok with that? Thor?" Thor shrugged.

"The boys and girls have their own separate stalls for showers and toilets, but yes, we all use this bathroom together. We stick to that separate system strictly because if we don't, Natasha's OCD goes haywire. Trust us... you don't want that. As for me, it's not like I can see anyone else while the others are in here anyway. Besides, you get used to it. Oh Loki, the other guys put a bathroom drawer together for you. Search through the weirdly placed dresser drawers. It's got all the typical hygiene stuff, including shower shoes, a shower sponge, a toothbrush, toothpaste, hairbrush, floss, deodorant, and shaving razors. Don't share the razors, hairbrushes, sponges, or the shower shoes. We have that rule to keep each other from getting sick. And trust us when I say showering is MUCH better WITH the shower shoes. Oh wait you can only use one shower shoe can't you? Uh sorry we didn't think of that. Still the rules apply." Loki looked inside one shower stall with bafflement and just a bit of indignation.

"And you're telling me the water comes out of the wall and just pours overtop your head? I don't quite remember how I stayed clean with HYDRA, but I think I would remember knowing about all of THIS. How does anything on this planet even WORK!?" Rhodey spoke up.

"Aw don't worry Loki! We'll help you figure it out! Listen, there's a shower on the end with a chair in it that I usually use. You can sit down and shower without wearing your prosthetic if you want. I'll let you go first this time since you're new. Go grab your clothes and get going! We don't have a lot of time before we need to be at the facility. The guy we're meeting does NOT like when we're late, and we all still need to get ready! There's soap and shampoo already in all the showers. Don't use Peter's blueberry scented kids shampoo unless he lets you. We forgot to say don't share your towel, and keep track of it because you'll probably have to use it for a few days straight. You can find fresh towels in the closet. Try not to take too long or else the water will turn cold for the people who shower after you do. And DO NOT mess with anyone's medication if they keep it in their bathroom drawer. Now let's get a move on people!" Loki blinked in confusion before going to find his bathroom drawer. It turns out that he got one of the very last top drawers, right next to his brother's. He really liked that thought for some reason.

He was surprised at how easy it was to use the showers. When he came out of the bathroom ready to go for the day he realized that it really hadn't been as bad to use the community bathroom as he had feared it would be, (and now he TOTALLY understood the shower shoe thing) and he knew that he could get used to it with time. Soon enough everyone was ready and they were on their way to the facility. Loki has been extremely confused and concerned when Thor called shotgun for himself and his brother. At first Loki was annoyed once the meaning was explained to him... until he figured out that Thor had guaranteed them actual seats in the front of the truck instead of the bed. Suddenly he found that he absolutely LOVED the idea of calling shotgun. The drive was a little slow because of New York City traffic, but they eventually arrived with but a minute to spare. Thor held Loki's hand in support as they walked inside. Mr. Coulson almost immediately came up to Loki to shake his hand with a smile.

"You're all JUST in time! It's so good to meet you Loki! My name is Phil Coulson. You can call me Mr. Coulson. I've been in charge of arranging evaluations and services for the entire Avengers team for quite awhile now. I'm sorry for everything HYDRA did to you. You shouldn't have had to be their victim, but I'm glad that you're free of HYDRA now, and I'm also glad that Thor and you were reunited. It always warms my heart when the kids we help at this facility are able to reunite with their family members. I'm glad the two of you were able to find each other again. Now, are you ready to do this? We're all here for you, and we can take it as slow as you need to go." The youngest Odinson held onto his brother's hand even as he gently squeezed Coulson's. Loki looked determined.

"Thank you Mr. Coulson. I think I AM ready for this. Please... lead the way." Coulson smiled again opened up the door behind him.

—

"Thor? Why did you go off to talk to the professionals alone for awhile?"

"I had to get my files updated. Some things have changed since my initial evaluation."

"Please don't leave again, at least not without telling me why? You had me worried while you were gone. I thought you left because something was wrong with you."

"Don't worry Loki. I'm right here. Tell you what, once we're finished with everything you'll be able to read File 0, which is a summary of what the other files contain, as well as your own file. To help you learn more about what happened during the time while I was under the control HYDRA, I'll tell that you can read MY file too. Is that ok?"

"Yes. Thank you Thor. I'm ready to keep going now."

—

File 0, Version 3.0

Group Name: The Avengers

Original Avengers Members: Dr. Bruce Banner, Natasha Romanov, Clint Barton, Steve Rodgers, James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes, Sam Wilson, James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Virginia "Pepper" Potts, and Anthony Howard "Tony" Stark.

Second Wave Avengers Members (Members that were added later): Thor Odinson, Vision Jarvis, Wanda Maximoff, Peter Parker, and Loki Odinson.

Team Leader: Steve Rodgers

Head Quarters Building Owner: Anthony Howard "Tony" Stark

Notes: HYDRA is a terrorist organization that was originally formed by the Third Reich, otherwise known as the Nazi Empire, who's main goal is to take over and rule the world. All of the original members of the Avengers team are former HYDRA agents. HYDRA kidnapped and/or found the original and second wave Avengers members and either forced or manipulated, if not both, into joining HYDRA's ranks. After serving HYDRA for various amounts of time, the original Avengers decided to break out of the HYDRA together. The Avengers were eventually able to free themselves and come together to form a team. The original members all escaped HYDRA on the same day. The NYPD recognize the Avengers as a gang due to their tendency to perform vigilante actions in pursuit of HYDRA cells hidden throughout New York City and the surrounding bureaus and because their actions are considered to be unsupervised by any legal guardians. All Avengers members are victims of illegal human experimentation (human being used as a term being used to represent their status as a person even if they are not biologically human by species), brainwashing, mind control, and torture, which lead to all of them developing various types of physical disabilities and mental disabilities and disorders, with a substantial presence of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) among nearly all, if not ALL, members. The goal of the Avengers is to destroy HYDRA and avenge the fallen who were killed, or who's lives were uprooted or destroyed by HYDRA's actions as well as to rescue (and possibly recruit security wave members into the Avengers) other kids and teens like them who were forced into working for HYDRA.

Avengers Motto: If we can't protect, then we'll avenge.

Subnote: Current records of the torture methods the Avengers were subjected to while under the control of HYDRA can be found attached to the actual medical records instead of the file summary pages

Subnote 2: Ages in all files are updated and changed at the beginning of each new year.

Subnote 3: Current second wave Avengers were rescued from HYDRA by the original Avengers while on missions. Not all second wave Avengers were rescued at the same time.

—

File 9- Version 2.0

Name: Thor Odinson

Birthdate: Unknown (November 21st has been chosen for the sake of records based on memory and comparison between Earth and Asgardian calendars)

Age: 16 (Estimated Mentally/Human Years) / 1052 (Estimated Physically/Asgardian Years)

Sex: Male

Asset Name: Static Slayer

Subnote 1: Thor Odinson was rescued from HYDRA along with fellow second wave avengers Wanda Maximoff, Vision Jarvis, and Peter Parker while the original avengers were in a mission raiding a HYDRA hideout.

Subnote 2: Thor's home planet of Asgard previously considered Thor's status to be classified as deceased. This is currently not true and copies of this documentation for the sake of proof of life will be provided to the royal family of Asgard.

Subnote 3: Thor is the older brother of fellow Avenger Loki Odinson. Along with the original Avengers, Thor Odinson, as well as second wave Avengers Wanda Maximoff, Vision Jarvis, and Peter Parker participated in the mission leading to Loki Odinson's rescue from HYDRA.

Notes: Prince Thor Odinson is the real patron of thunder figure from the Norse mythological legends. He is considered to mentally be a teenager in comparison with his teammates even though he is over 1000 years old physically due to a longer lifespan. Thor is a crown prince (considered to be next in line for the throne) from another planet, Asgard. After surviving banishment and attempting to return home to Asgard, Thor wound up getting lost in an unspecified location in New Mexico. While he was lost, he was kidnapped by HYDRA (who wound up planting evidence in New Mexico meant to fool everyone he knew into thinking that he was dead) and then experimented on, tortured, subjected to mind control, and sent on HYDRA missions before breaking control. Thor was set to be teamed up with second wave Avengers members Wanda Maximoff, Vision Jarvis, and Peter Parker as a HYDRA strike team, but this did not occur because all four were rescued together from HYDRA by the original Avengers. Thor has a magical connection to his preferred weapon, a hammer that is called Mjolnir. Thor's powers, which he was born with and are not a product of HYDRA experimentation, consist of the ability to produce and control lightning bolts. Thor has also learned how to sense electrical signals, and how to short circuit or activate technology with his lightning. Thor was occasionally forced to use his lightning as a torture and/or execution method. This has caused him to experience psychological trauma. Thor lost his vision, and one of his physical eyes, due to a HYDRA experiment involving magical snake venom that went horribly wrong. This has lead to a diagnosis of permanent blindness. Thor has received a mechanical replacement for his missing eye from fellow Avenger Tony Stark, who has combined Thor's electric sensing abilities with optic technology in order to allow Thor to "see" electric currents. Thor has further combined the bionic eye with a technique he calls his "Echostatic Pulse". This technique is similar to echolocation, but it uses the electricity in his lightning powers instead of sound. Thor also occasionally magically morphs the shape of his hammer to use it as a walking cane for the blind. Upon examination of Thor's physical and mental health history, it was discovered that Thor most likely had Dyslexia as a child, which negatively affected his ability to read and write. Thor has relearned how to read and write in Braille, but his original Dyslexia has become present once again while using the written language method. Strategies to assist with this are in place. Thor is actually extremely intelligent by Earth standards, and seems to be developing a significant talent for several categories of mathematics as well as electrical engineering. It was also discovered that Thor has a severe allergy to almonds. This allergy is severe enough to be potentially deadly, therefore an almost free diet is required for his own health and safety. An epinephrine injection pen (EpiPen), has been provided to counteract this allergy (primarily in an emergency situation) should he accidentally be exposed to almonds in his food. Thor has been granted duel citizenship between his home in Asgard and the United States of America, allowing him to legally be able to live on Earth, despite being from another planet. Thor's lightning was probably used to assist in the creation of fellow Avenger Vision Jarvis. Upon the 2.0 version update of this document Thor owned a switchblade (acquired after his rescue from HYDRA), which he legally registered with the police through the acquisition of a New York State hunting license. (Officially diagnosed with PTSD, Dyslexia, Blindness, and severe specific food allergy to almonds.)

—

File 13, Version 1.0

Name: Loki Odinson

Birthdate: December 17th (best assumption based on memory and comparison between Earth and Asgardian calendars)

Age: 14 (Estimated Mentally/Human Years) / 901? (Estimated Physically/Asgardian? Years)

Sex: Male

Asset Name: The Liesmith

Subnote 1: Loki's adoptive home planet of Asgard most likely previously considered Loki's status to be classified as deceased. This is currently not true and copies of this documentation for the sake of proof of life will be provided to the royal family of Asgard.

Subnote 2: Loki is the younger adopted brother of fellow Avenger Thor Odinson. Loki and his brother Thor are different species (Thor is Asgardian, Loki is biologically descended from the Jotuns, or Frost Giants of Planet Jotunheim) but are both being evaluated partly by Asgardian standards.

Subnote 3: Along with the original Avengers, Thor Odinson, as well as second wave Avengers Wanda Maximoff, Vision Jarvis, and Peter Parker participated in the mission leading to Loki Odinson's rescue from HYDRA.

Notes: Prince Loki Odinson is the real patron of mischief and lies figure from the Norse mythological legends. He is considered to mentally be a teenager in comparison with his teammates even though he is over 900 years old physically due to a longer lifespan. Loki is a crown prince (considered to be second in line for the throne) from another planet, Asgard. Loki has a natural type of magic power known as Seider, and most likely has hidden ice powers as well (both types of power were NOT a result of HYDRA experimentation, but are instead inborn abilities). Loki Odinson was sent to Earth by his father King Odin of Asgard on a mission to discover the fate behind the supposed death of his brother, fellow Avenger Thor Odinson (who upon the original creation of this document was NOT considered to be deceased), and to bring Thor's body along with his hammer Mjolnir. During his search, Loki was kidnapped by HYDRA. Loki fell victim to HYDRA's torture, experimentation, mutilation, manipulation, and mind control methods (as did the other members of the Avengers while they were part of HYDRA), which caused Loki physical and psychological trauma. HYDRA used a two month period of solitary confinement (specifically, solitary confinement in a soundproof box with no light. Loki himself compared the size of the box to a coffin) as a conditioning technique. This has caused Loki to develop a fear of being trapped in small spaces (Claustrophobia) as well as a fear of the dark (Nyctophobia) and a fear of excess silence (Sedatephobia). Due to HYDRA experimentation and torture, Loki's lower left leg was unwillingly amputated and replaced with a vibranium prosthetic. HYDRA brainwashed Loki into believing that by working for them, Loki could deliver revenge upon Thor's supposed murderers, leading to Loki becoming a mind controlled HYDRA agent. HYDRA also trained an unwilling Loki to become a skilled assassin. Loki eventually managed to partially break the mind control, but this lead to HYDRA sewing his lips shut. (The stitching was later self removed, but will most likely leave permanent scars.) While Loki was still in a partially brainwashed state, the Avengers were on a mission investigating the HYDRA base where Loki was located. While under mind control (and still injured from the lip sewing incident) Loki attempted to attack the Avengers, thoroughly convinced that humans could no longer be trusted as a whole and was prepared to kill them all out of a (HYDRA implanted) desire for revenge for himself AND his brother. However, this mission was participated in by the second wave Avengers that had joined before him (Those second wave Avengers being Peter Parker, Vision Jarvis, Wanda Maximoff, and Thor Odinson), so the second wave Avengers were present at the HYDRA base that day. This is where Loki was reunited with his (very much alive) elder brother Thor, who's presence helped Loki to break the mind control fully. Once completely free of mind control, the Avengers rescued Loki by evacuating him from the base, offered him a position within the Avengers (which he immediately accepted), and brought him back to their headquarters. That night was also the night when Loki discovered that his brother was not only alive, but was also now permanently blind. The evaluation team would like to note that this news may have caused even more psychological trauma for Loki, as he partly blamed himself for Thor's banishment, which is the the reason why Thor was originally on Earth before being kidnapped by HYDRA. Loki has developed separation anxiety in relation to his brother because of the psychological trauma associated with thinking that Thor was dead for an extended period of time and fearing that a similar situation may happen again. Loki has been granted duel citizenship between his home in Asgard and the United States of America, allowing him to legally be able to live on Earth, despite being from another planet. Upon further examination of Loki's physical and mental health history, it was discovered that Loki is afflicted with chronic Narcolepsy (which is a sleep disorder often characterized by having sudden bouts of sleepiness as one of the main symptoms. This makes Loki susceptible to falling asleep almost anywhere at almost any time). Loki is to be provided with medication to assist in coping with this condition, which he will most likely be required to take for the remainder of his natural life. (Officially diagnosed with Nyctophobia, Sedatephobia, Claustrophobia, Narcolepsy and PTSD.)

—

Loki looked up from the papers and stared at Thor in shock upon finishing his reading of the three files. He saw everything, including Thor's medical records with photos of his initial injuries included. He felt a combination of heartbroken, saddened, ashamed, angry, confused, and annoyed. Loki had to put down the papers to keep from crumpling them and clenched his fists as he spoke with gritted teeth.

"HYDRAAAAA... they are going to PAYYYYY! How DARE they do all of that to you Thor!? I want to DESTROY THEM ALL RIGHT NOW! HYDRA WILL BE BROUGHT TO JUSTICE IF IT'S-" Thor put a hand on Loki's shoulder.

"Yes they will Loki, but that day will not be today. We're not ready yet. We need more time to take care of ourselves and grow stronger before HYDRA can be taken down. If we want to defeat HYDRA, the first thing we have to do is calm down and reevaluate our plans. And remember, we have an entire team to think about now. We can't rush off to destroy an enemy because we're angry, especially without any regard for the safety of others! That's what got us into this mess in the first place. I don't want to risk repeating that mistake." Loki realized Thor was right. He took a deep breath to quell his anger before reaching over and hugging his brother.

"I just... they've caused us all SO MUCH shame and suffering. It hurts Thor... it hurts so much!" Thor carded Loki's hair.

"I know Loki... I know." The brothers hugged for another minute before the team left the facility (now with Loki's new narcolepsy medication) and returned back to HQ. Just as the others did after their own evaluations, Loki broke down crying as soon as he sat down on the couch in the common room. He collapsed right into Thor's arms. Thor hugged Loki close and comforted him as Loki sobbed.

"OH THOR, you never told me you had it SO bad! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I never wanted this for us! NEVER!" Loki continued to sob for a long time. Once he stopped crying it took another hour for Loki to mostly calm down. Once he did he had questions again.

"Thor... can you really DIE if you ever eat almonds!? Why didn't you tell me about something that important!? You could have been in danger of suffocating to death from an allergic reaction and I would have had NO IDEA what to do to save you!" Thor put a guilty expression on his face.

"I'm sorry Loki, I honestly just forgot to say anything, plus I didn't know about it before I came to Earth! Now that you know though, I'll let you carry one of my EpiPens in your pocket dimensions if you want one so you have it to use in an emergency if I ever forget to bring my own, and I'll teach you how to use it. Is that ok?" Loki nodded yes while he responded, though it was mostly instinctual.

"I'm ok with that. That honestly really DOES help." Loki sniffled. "Thor... what's a switchblade? And why do you have one?" Thor smirked, reached a hand into his leg pocket (he had cargo pants on that day), took out the knife, and flicked it open. Loki immediately flinched back, startled from the really intimidating view of his brother creepily smirking towards him while holding a blade that he flicked his wrist to make appear out of seemingly nowhere. It was honestly disturbing!

"My goodness Thor for a moment you looked absolutely TERRIFYING! Now I see why you keep that around. I wouldn't want to mess with that blade while you're smirking at me like that with your eyes looking as they do, no offense to your eyes, and while flicking that blade from your wrist seemingly out of thin air none the less! You look like a creepy potentially crazed murderer!" Thor chuckled.

"Not to mention since I can't see anything, no one has ANY idea how well I can aim if I ever decide to use it. Makes people less likely to consider me helpless." Loki had to take a deep breath to quash the minor adrenaline rush his brother caused him with that switchblade.

"Just... just PLEASE be careful with that thing! We don't need you cutting yourself on it by mistake." Thor chuckled and agreed before closing the switchblade and putting it away again. Loki decided to ask another question. "Tell me, why do you like electrical engineering? I mean I can guess why pretty easily, but I'm still a little surprised." Thor smiled.

"It's a combination of my special understanding of the physics behind electricity due to my powers and the fact that I'm pretty good at understanding the mathematics behind electrical engineering. It just MAKES SENSE! If I ever went to college I would probably wind up majoring in electrical engineering to be honest. It's my favorite subject!" Loki smiled.

"I love witnessing you being filled with so much passion brother. It makes me so happy." Thor smiled.

"I hope that you'll have the same opportunity in school Loki. I really do." The brothers stayed next to each other, simply keeping each other calm and discussing important things they hadn't covered yet.

Sam and Pepper decided to cook for the team dinner for that night. It was delicious (they had tacos) and it worked to distract Loki from his highly emotional day. The Odinsons were both exhausted, so they brushed their teeth in the bathroom and then went back to their bedroom to just relax by themselves once dinner was over. Thor suddenly realized he hadn't talked to Loki about what they wanted to do about the bedroom situation in the apartment. This brought up a small dilemma. Thor stopped in the sitting room before going up the stairs.

"Hey Loki, since you're staying here with me, I should probably inform you that there ARE two bedrooms in this apartment. You don't actually have to share a bedroom with me if you don't want to. I won't judge you if you want a space to be alone." Loki froze in place. He started rambling, which slowly morphed into a full blown combination flashback and anxiety attack as he spoke.

"A-alone? H-how alone are we talking about? D-Do I have to be alone? I don't w-wanna be alone! What if I wake up alone without you there!? Please don't make me stay alone!" Loki had tears pouring down his face and he was holding his head while slumping down to the floor on his knees. "Please don't lock me away! I don't wanna go back in the box! I'll be good! Please don't put me back in the dark soundless coffin! Please I need to get out! I need to find my brother! I NEED to bring him back home! You promised I could bring him home! I don't wanna go in the box with nothing but my guilt over Thor's death to keep me occupied! It's too quiet! It's too dark! It's too tight! Get me out Get Me Out GET ME OUT! I WANT MY BROTHER BACK! WHY DID THEY TAKE HIM I WANT HIM BACK THOR PLEASE DON'T GO WHY DID YOU HAVE TO DIE I NEED YOU BROTHER PLEASE SAVE ME THOR-" Thor was crying even as he used an echostatic pulse to find Loki and fell to his knees while dropping his crutch (Mjolnir) and wrapping his brother in a hug. The thunderer couldn't stand the pain and fear in Loki's voice. Thor gently shushed Loki and rocked him back and forth.

"Shhhhh Loki it's ok! You're ok Loki! Focus on me Loki! I'm right here! I'm not dead! You're having a FLASHBACK Loki! What you see isn't reality! HYDRA doesn't have you anymore! You're not in that horrible box, you're with me, your brother, in New York City! I'm right here little brother. We're in an open, unlocked space where we can turn on the lights anytime we want, and where I can always talk to you or open the window to let the street noise in so you can have something to hear. Tony is gonna get you a phone and some earbuds so you can listen to music too! It'll never be too quiet if you can hear music whenever you want right?" Loki was trying to stop hyperventilating. Thor was rubbing circles on Loki's back. Loki was clutching Thor like he was the last lifeline he had left to keep him from drowning in a raging sea.

"Thor I don't want to be alone ever again! I... I NEED to keep you safe! I need you to be there! I don't wanna go back! I'll wake up and you'll still be dead and I'll be back in that coffin again and I-"

"Loki Loki Loki no! You're not going back there again! It's okay brother! You're safe here! You don't have to be alone! You can stay with me! I won't let them hurt you!" Loki looked directly at his brother now.

"But they could still hurt YOU!" Loki put his shaking hands on Thor's face. "Thor I refuse to leave you alone ever again! I can't risk not being there and something happening to take you away from me or hurt you all over again! You really COULD wind up dying! I promised to protect you Thor! How can I do that if I'm not there!?" Thor worriedly shushed Loki again.

"Loki it's ok! You're not going anywhere if you don't want to ok? I know you're afraid and that your visions and your separation anxiety are doing TERRIBLE things to your mind, and you DO have some pretty important concerns, but you NEED to calm down! I'm RIGHT HERE ok? I'm totally safe here with you." Loki continued to clutch his brother. Thor's heart broke. He absolutely hated listening to his little brother suffering.

"We're going to help you feel better Loki! We have a plan all set up remember? We're going to try some of the strategies we were taught about today to help decrease your anxiety and counteract your phobias, and once you get enrolled in school you'll be able to speak with one of the school psychologists. You might even be able to start talking to them before classes start by having appointments over the phone! You're going to be fine Loki. I promise you're going to be fine! We're going to get through this... TOGETHER." Loki looked at Thor closely and just focused on calming down by focusing on him and listening to his own breath. It took several minutes for the calming effects of his actions to kick in. Loki eventually sighed, wiped his tears away, and nodded his head... right before remembering Thor couldn't see him doing it and deciding to respond verbally.

"Ok Thor... ok. As long as you're there...I'll try. But... can we please share your bedroom together? I really would rather not be by myself. I think that it would be... it would be far too lonely without you there. Though I feel a little bad about taking up space in your bed. I can... I can sleep on the floor if you want. " Thor smiled.

"Nonsense Loki! You're NOT sleeping on the floor. A solution for the bed situation is already there. Come with me and I'll show you!" Loki was confused but he stood up with Thor (after Thor picked up crutch Mjolnir again) and followed his brother up the stairs and back into his bedroom. Thor stopped by the door.

"Loki, do something for me would you? Go to the giant cabinet over... wherever it is... open it up, pull on the bar you find on top, and slowly walk backwards as you do so." Loki cocked an eyebrow, but he walked over to said cabinet and did what Thor said anyway. One minute later, Loki had completely pulled the Murphy bed out of the wall, which automatically locked down onto the floor so it wouldn't pop back up again in Loki's sleep. Loki looked at the bed (already made with mismatched sheets and blankets) with amazement.

"Did I just pull an entire BED out of the WALL!?" Thor chuckled.

"Yes you did Loki... and NOW it's YOUR bed! See? I told you that you don't need to sleep on the floor, OR steal space in my bed if you don't want to. Just know that you can always come to me in the middle of the night if you need me. I'm still here with you. Oh, and one more thing... you can keep the curtains over the banister open. That way, you can see the high ceilings and open space of the sitting room. This way, you'll never feel like you're enclosed. It's not like I can see whether or not they're open anyway. Oh and you're in charge of the lights too. Get as many nightlights as you need." Loki's eyes teared up again, but this time it was out of gratefulness. He went over to his brother and hugged him.

"Thank you... THANK YOU BROTHER! I'll never be able to thank you enough!" Thor smiled and hugged Loki back until Loki eventually let go. The brothers changed into pajamas, with Thor for some reason requesting that Loki not watch him change. Soon they both finished changing (And Loki removed his prosthetic for the night) and then went to sleep, each in his own bed.


	5. Chapter 5

(Series Summary: In an alternate universe, HYDRA has done a lot of personal damage to many of the heroes of Marvel. They truly are the victims of horrible trauma. They were taken as HYDRA agents by force, used as lab rats, abused, damaged, brainwashed, mind controlled, and HURT in ways that can't truly ever be fixed. Then they escaped, or were rescued, and they banded together to form a team. The Avengers are a group of ex child HYDRA agents who's mission is to one day destroy HYDRA for good. Their mission is not easy, and the life they live does not help lightning the load. Living with poverty, constantly being bullied, food insecurity, all different kinds of psychological conditions including PTSD, various disabilities and physical illnesses, and almost no family members to turn while working for cash in any way they can and dumpster diving by day and raiding secret HYDRA bases by night is hard enough, especially since they live together without ANY true adults. Adding in that none of the Avengers are 18 yet (at least in Earth years) just makes it harder. They've really only kept their hope Alive because they have each other for support, occasionally along with their mysterious advocate Mr. Coulson and the generosity of neighbors and strangers. However, the Avengers are survivors. They refuse to give up on the hope that HYDRA won't steal the futures they dream of, so they keep fighting any way they can.

Then one spring they start getting new teammates, and they gain more once summer rolls around. They definitely never imagined that they would receive allies from space! To think that everything changed the day the Avengers rescued a couple of new members during a HYDRA base raid, including a newly blinded boy who says his name is Prince Thor Odinson of Asgard. Then over a month later they rescue (and successfully recruit) Thor's brother Prince Loki Odinson, who is QUITE shocked to find out that Thor is not only blind, but is in fact ALIVE, especially considering that Thor was thought to be dead for over two years when his elder brother disappeared without a trace after his banishment ended! Thor meanwhile is shocked to learn that HYDRA had been holding Loki captive almost as long as they had held Thor, and that HYDRA had left Loki with one less leg than he had the last time he had seen him. Two weeks after Loki joins the Avengers, they rescue and recruit even MORE kids and expand the avengers even further! All of these new allies were welcome additions to the Avengers team, but when they realized that getting the Odinson brothers back to Asgard could lead to an interplanetary alliance? Well, that opened up a whole ton of new possibilities for the Avengers that could step up their small scale rebellion against HYDRA up big time! One thing is certain though, these kids are the best chance the world has of beating HYDRA once and for all.

This story will EVENTUALLY focus heavily on Thor and Loki at times so if you like the Brodinsons you're in the right place! You've just got be patient! Warning: In this story I take some creative liberties with science. This story also features characters who have debilitating permanent injuries such as characters with nerve damage, blindness, injury related deafness, or who are amputees, as well as characters with in born conditions like ADHD or learning disabilities. I mean no offense if I portray something incorrectly or something. All of the Avengers will have PTSD in this story. This is not a story for young children due to sensitive topics.)

(Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel or any Marvel Characters in any way, shape, or form)

(What's the difference between form and shape anyway?)

Forged by Lightning, Rescued by Love

Chapter 5

The next day Loki woke up to find that he was alone in the bedroom. Thor wasn't there. He almost started panicking... but then he noticed the smell of bacon and eggs cooking downstairs. Loki quickly put on his prosthetic leg and walked downstairs. He was absolutely shocked to see his brother... cooking? By himself? Loki knocked his hand against the banister to let Thor know he was there. Thor lifted his head slightly and responded without turning around.

"Oh good morning Loki! Or at least I THINK that's you. Anyway, I decided to make us breakfast this morning because I woke up before you!" A timer went off on Thor's phone. "Oh the eggs are done! Hey Loki, would you mind grabbing plates for us?" Loki was startled out of his shocked stupor by his brother's request and he immediately moved to grab the plates out of the cabinet (after pilfering through the cabinets one by one to figure out which one they were actually in) and ask Thor about how he was cooking by himself.

"Thor, how in the WORLD are you doing that by yourself!?" Thor smiled.

"Basically, I memorized different recipes for things I like and use timer sounds I set up by voice on my phone to determine how long to let my food cook since I can't see it to determine how done it looks. I have Braille on the cabinets to tell me where different ingredients are located. It's not that hard to cook as long as I'm careful. After all Loki, I HAVE been doing this for almost two months already. The other Avengers... they've been so kind and supportive throughout all of this. They've helped me to keep my independence while simultaneously always being there to help if I need it, all without ANY of them EVER judging me negatively for what I can't do. They figured out different strategies for doing things without seeing what you're doing, and then they taught those strategies to me. I can never thank them enough. Are the plates on the counter or in your hands? And what side of me are they on?" Loki blinked.

"Um... they're in my hands directly to your right?" Thor moved his hands up and eventually touched each plate to figure out where they were.

"Ah I get it now! Thank you Loki." Thor put the eggs on each plate without spilling anything. A moment later the timer for the bacon went off and Loki did the same thing again. Loki brought the plates over to the coffee table in the living room before coming back over to ask if Thor needed help with anything else... and suddenly remembered that Thor still had a sprained ankle and was walking around on it without a crutch. Loki narrowed his eyes in annoyance even though Thor couldn't see them.

"Thor you oaf what are you doing walking around without a crutch!? Your ankle is still healing you idiot! You could wind up worsening your injury! You need to be careful!" Thor blushed.

"Oops... I thought I might be forgetting something. I'll be fine Loki, I just need to be mindful of how I move. Hold on let me turn off the stove." Thor reached to turn off the burner, but he didn't notice that he was about to touch the burner itself! Loki reacted instantly, gasping and grabbing Thor's hand before he could burn himself.

"BE CAREFUL! You almost stuck your hand right on the heated coils!" Thor gasped slightly too.

"Oh wow thanks for the save Loki! I seem to nearly burn my hand on one of those burners every other week! Sorry if I scared you, especially after last night." Loki slowly let go of Thor's wrist and sighed.

"It's ok. You didn't mean it. Thank you for making breakfast. It smells delicious. I put the plates on the coffee table in the sitting room. Let's eat before it gets cold." Loki grabbed the silverware and the orange juice carton. Thor finally turned the stove off, carefully grabbed the glasses, and followed the sound of Loki's footsteps. They ate quietly and worked together to wash the dishes (It was awkward. Loki had never actually DONE chores consciously before this, and Thor wasn't exactly capable of seeing how well Loki actually did, but they still managed.) before Thor smirked.

"Oh Loki... don't take your shower this morning, and wear, uh what's the word, oh yes DUMPY clothes today. We're doing something a little... messy... today. Just trust me. Now I'm going to go get Mjolnir and get myself changed, then later you need to go get changed. Plus we still need to brush our teeth and things before we get going! Oh and we're probably walking today so comfortable shoes are a must." Loki was very confused.

"What? Thor what's going on?" Thor chuckled.

"It's a surprise Loki! I can't tell you or I'll spoil it! Go to the bathroom to get ready. When you're back I'll call to you to let you know that I'm ready for you to come in to change your clothes. I'll be here when you get back!" Loki called after Thor.

"Just... remember to hang onto the banister so that your ankle doesn't cause you to fall!" Thor called back to Loki as he climbed the stairs to the loft.

"I will! There's no specific time requirement today, but we should still hurry up or we'll keep the Avengers waiting! Thanks again for helping with breakfast! Now go get a move on!" Loki rolled his eyes.

"Alright Alright I'm going! No need to be bossy!" Thor just chuckled and walked into his... no... THEIR room. Loki smiled on his way to the bathroom as he walked out the apartment door.

"You're kidding me." said Loki right after Sam flipped over the dumpster lid. He just couldn't believe what they were all suggesting.

"Tell me you're actually kidding me." Thor chuckled.

"Nope. We're telling you to go inside the dumpster. This Loki, is dumpster diving. It's disgusting, but it's something we need to do around here to survive. This is one of the grossest dumpsters in the city, and is therefore the perfect dumpster for exposing you to the worst of it so you'll always know what to expect. It makes other dumpsters easier to handle. Don't worry. We won't let the lid close overtop of you, and you can climb out when you need to, but WE are ALL going to go through dumpsters looking for things that are still useful. If you need me to prove it then I can go first." Loki just stared at Thor on instinct.

"I'm sorry... you've ACTUALLY done this before!? No way." Thor smirked and took off his glasses, hanging them off of Mjolnir (still in crutch form) which it was propped against the ally wall.

"Vision, a little assistance please?" Vision smiled and wrapped an arm around Thor's waist. Vision flew Thor over the open dumpster and gently let him drop down. Thor grunted a bit upon landing. Loki became concerned.

"Are you ok!?" Thor stuck his head over the side of the dumpster.

"I'm fine Loki! Hey check this out! I found a mostly intact broken microwave... I think! It seems intact from what I feel! Tony do you wanna take it apart for scraps or repair it for a pawn off?" Tony looked excited.

"Oh DEFINITELY try to repair! If not then it'll work for scrap!" Thor handed the microwave over. Loki looked on in total shock.

"My brother the crown prince of Asgard is actually digging through trash! Now I've seen everything!" Thor smirked again.

"What's the matter Loki? Scared?" Loki narrowed his eyes.

"I am NOT SCARED! I just don't want to do anything THIS disgusting EVER!" Thor chuckled again.

"Come on Loki it's only fair. You can't be the only one left out! If we do this we do it as a team! We're all here for you. We promise." Loki looked at the others, who were all nodding in agreement, before he started hesitantly walking up to the dumpster.

"Uuuuugh I can't believe I'm doing this I can't believe I'm doing this I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M DOING THIS!" Loki, with a boost from Steve, managed to climb over the side of the dumpster and fall in with a yelp of surprise. Everyone waited a moment to see what would happen before Loki popped up again. Soon they heard his voice calling out.

"WHAT IN THE- WHO WAS STUPID ENOUGH TO THROW THIS OUT!? DON'T PEOPLE KNOW THAT OUTDATED BOOKS ARE WORTH A FORTUNE IN SOME PLACES!? DOESN'T MATTER IF IT'S BEAT UP, IT'S STILL SALVAGEABLE! SOMEONE TAKE THIS TO CARRY!" Loki carefully threw a slightly beat up book over the side of the dumpster. Natasha caught it.

"Congratulations on your first find Loki! Now make room for me because I'm joining you two in there!" Loki was blushing.

"Yeah well... as long as I'm in here I can't just let good literature be wasted! Besides I won't let Thor one up me!" Everyone laughed while Vision smiled and made the hand sign for "funny".

The dumpster diving went on for hours and hours. Loki surprisingly found he enjoyed it. He had to be THOROUGHLY convinced by the other Avengers to keep going however, when they found a box of donuts that wasn't even stale yet that Bucky wanted to keep. Thor had then informed Loki that the Taco shells from the previous night has been a similar find. Loki had then had to fight down a wave of nausea upon realizing he had LITERALLY eaten garbage... and then threw up when he realized his brother had already done so several times before they found each other again. 'Oh how disgusted our parents would be to see us now. But still, I can't believe my brother had to go through this without me!', thought Loki. Poor Loki nearly cried when he realized that he and his brother were stuck relying on trash to survive until further notice. The trickster was comforted however, when he was reassured that they didn't have to do any of it alone. Loki then became determined to get through this. 'If Thor has to eat garbage, then at least now I'm here to eat it with him' was his next thought (he sure never expected to think about anything like THAT in his life though). So the dumpster diving continued until an hour before sunset. Loki had NEVER been more thankful in his life for hot water once they all got back to HQ and showered. After they were all cleaned up, Vision and Rhodey made dinner for the whole team. While they were cleaning up the mess from dinner afterwards, Thor spoke up.

"You know... I had an idea. The school still offers it's counseling services over breaks. We should all start trying to have phone call sessions with the school psychologists before school actually starts. Not all of us have been formally treated for PTSD, and we can't exactly afford therapy from anywhere else. Plus, maybe it'll help make the transition to school easier for me and Loki once he gets enrolled, since we're not from your world and know little about formal schooling around here. Besides... we're going to have to confront our loved ones back in Asgard about our conditions at some point. I have a feeling that it's going to require a lot of mental preparation to be able to do so. If we all do this then... we'll be able to do it as a team and support each other through the process you know?" Steve and Tony nodded towards each other before Steve responded verbally.

"We actually think that's a good idea. We've been wondering about doing something like that for awhile. It might be helpful for us. The only issues are that Vision can't talk over the phone and Wanda and Clint might have trouble hearing over the phone too, but perhaps using sign language and video chat can help them out. Tony and I will set everything up as long as everyone agrees." The others all agreed, and Thor smiled.

"Thank you friends. I have a feeling that this will truly help us all in the long run." The others agreed again before continuing on with their night.

Over the next few days, Loki spent time practicing his magic and adjusting to living in a community setting with his brother and the other kids. He learned how to do all of the different chores the team did. Loki also spent time learning about the city itself and how life on Earth worked. On the first day after the dumpster diving adventure, Loki requested that Thor and Wanda teach him how to read in Braille. That very same day Thor handed Loki a beat up book. When Loki opened it up and found it was written in Braille, Loki thought it was just another random book. Thor revealed however, that it was actually a journal of Braille written letters from Thor to Loki that the elder brother had written after he learned Braille and started living with the Avengers. He had decided to give it to Loki so Loki could read it and learn for himself what Thor's time had been like when he was just getting used to his new life with almost no physical vision. Loki decided to cherish that letter journal for the rest of his natural life, so that he could always use it to remind himself AND his brother about how strong Thor truly was. He spent three hours straight doing Braille lessons with Thor and Wanda that day before they stopped... in order to teach the younger Odinson how to clean the bathroom, including the showers, sinks, floors, and toilets. Loki immediately decided that he absolutely hated cleaning the bathroom, but Wanda played some music on her phone to distract them all from their thoughts and make the process a little more fun. It actually helped quite a bit.

On the second day, Loki had his first daily training session. The team often trained every day, but their schedules were altered because they had gained a new member and wanted to give Loki a little more rest from his injuries. He wound up sparing in hand to hand combat with Natasha. She totally kicked his butt. Loki learned not to underestimate her strength. She also gave him tips for sparing with a prosthetic limb. After that the Hulk made another appearance. After being formally introduced Hulk took one look at Loki and declared "I will protect the puny God" before practically smashing Loki into the ground with a tackle hug. Bruce was pretty confused when he woke back up on top of Loki while the Asgardian was half buried in the floor. Thankfully Loki was uninjured from THAT episode.

Later that day May Parker came for a visit, bringing a package of chocolate chip cookies with her. Upon their first meeting that day May immediately decided that Loki looked too thin and needed to eat more, and absolutely insisted that he have AT LEAST five cookies at once. Loki really liked the cookies, and May Parker, but he also felt bad about taking so much food at once when the others were probably hungry too. Realizing that he needed to quickly learn the importance of sharing, Loki gave one of his extra cookies to Peter, who had looked absolutely ecstatic at the offer and gave Loki a hug in thanks. Peter spent the night at his Aunt's old apartment in Queens for a visit. The Avengers acted noticeably subdued without the boy around.

The next day Loki did his first odd job out in the city, which was helping Thor, Bruce, and Pepper to clean up and repair some of the children's playground equipment in central park. They also wound up repairing a few broken benches, and Thor even used his lightning sensing abilities and his mechanical eye to fix a couple of malfunctioning street lamps (which REALLY impressed Loki considering that Thor couldn't see the wiring AT ALL and had simply ran his power through the lamps to identify the issue) along a runners trail. The park maintenance workers gave the teens $350 dollars each for their work with a nice bonus for the street lamp repair. Loki felt a weird sense of pride inside of him when he realized that for the first time he had actually earned his own money without a parent's intervention. Thor was very proud of him too.

Later the other Avengers arrived in the park, bringing dinner along with them so they could have a sunset picnic. May swung by the park to drop off Peter before going back upstate, saying she would visit again soon. Peter got to play on the newly cleaned and repaired playground equipment with some other children after they all ate their picnic dinner. The other Avengers were happy to see Peter doing something normal like playing with other children for once. Peter was occasionally teased by another child because his autism would cause him to accidentally say or do something that would make the other kids think he was strange or mean even though Peter wasn't actively trying to be rude. The odd part was that Peter was constantly stopping himself from being baited into acting out during an aggressive argument. This is when Loki learned that May had once told the Avengers that Peter had developed a habit as a child of not always trying to physically defend himself from bullies because he was more afraid of hurting other people than he was of being ridiculed. This fear had apparently increased due to the emergence of Peter's genetically enhanced spider strength and his history of being forced to hurt people because of HYDRA mind control, especially since Peter was DEFINITELY strong enough to be deadly. Peter didn't want to hurt or kill anybody else or risk revealing his powers to the other kids, so he just didn't fight back. After learning about that, Loki had proceeded to watch the other children like a hawk just incase one of them did something to physically hurt Peter. Thankfully, most of the kids were nice enough to not bother Peter about acting differently than them, and Peter was pretty good at either ignoring or verbally defending himself against teasing when he plucked up the nerve for it. The other Avengers did wind up having to intervene however when a few 12 year olds actually started pushing Peter around. Peter had started crying because he wanted to fight back but couldn't risk loosing control of himself. Instead, Tony and Pepper wound up punching the bullies in their faces and threatening to sick their repulsers on the brats if they ever bothered Peter again. The others would have also intervened, but Peter didn't want them to get charged with harassment. Loki secretly used a little magic to trick the bullies into charging straight through a giant mud puddle as they were running away, causing them to ruin their shoes. Everyone watched (well Thor didn't WATCH per say, but he listened and was given a minute by minute play by play by Sam afterwards. He was still satisfied and later thanked Loki for harmlessly ensuring that those mean kids wouldn't bother Peter again) with satisfaction as the mothers of the bullies lectured them in public for all to hear, made them apologize to Peter (who forgave them as long as they promised to not do it again, because he was nice like that), told the bullies that they would NOT be getting new shoes for at least a couple of weeks (and that they would have to clean the muddy shoes by themselves), and then took the bullies home from the park early. The Avengers were convinced that those bullies would never bully Peter EVER again after that.

On the fourth day, Loki found out why Thor had been reluctant to let his brother see him while changing clothes. Thor was trying to hide his HYDRA inflicted scars. Loki was carrying a glass of water at the time when he walked into the bedroom room after Thor had taken his shirt off. Despite seeing the photos of Thor's injuries from the day of his evaluation in his files, Loki still couldn't help feeling horrified upon seeing the scars in person with his own eyes. The water glass had slipped out of his hand in shock, shattering on the floor as Loki screeched in horror. Thor had been facing away from him at the time, but when Thor turned around, and consequently revealed the scars on his front as a consequence, Loki couldn't stop himself from crying with his hands over his mouth. Thor had just walked over to Loki (following the sound of Loki's muffled sobs) and hugged him close in response. The younger brother didn't hesitate to hug back. In his heart, Loki promised to protect Thor from feeling such horrible pain EVER again.

One week later, the letter giving Loki admission to SHIELD Technical Academy came in. Loki and Thor practically jumped for joy at the news. The very next day, everyone set up a virtual appointment schedule with the school psychologists. Mr. Coulson approved the appointment set up with the school, acting as an advocate and legal advisor for the Avengers. Peter's Aunt also gave approval for the appointments for her nephew. Loki started his first appointment the day after the schedule was arranged. He wound up crying by the end of it, but it was actually considered a good sign because if he was crying, then Loki wasn't bottling up his feelings and was being open about the things he discussed.

Over the course of the next week, Loki discovered that Peter wasn't the only target of bullying. In fact, all of the Avengers were targets. Something bad happened to all of the other Avengers that week because of bullying, and Loki witnessed it all... and was often included as a victim.

Once Loki was out with Natasha, Bucky, and Steve because they were looking for

lost pets to gain the reward money (and because homeless pets made Bucky sad), and they were all wearing shorts and T-Shirts because it was weirdly hot outside. This made all of their prosthetics clearly visible. They were walking back to HQ after reuniting an old lady with her cat when a group of punks that usually hung out near their local pharmacy (where the avengers often worked to stock shelves for extra cash) ran past the quartet of Avengers and bumped into all of them while laughing. Five minutes later Natasha noticed that they all had notes literally glued onto their clothes that had insults written on them, all of them targeted against their prosthetic limbs. Once that got back to their own building Natasha and Steve cried while Bucky beat up a trash can. Loki felt his own feelings get hurt of course (and he told his school psychologist about the event at his next appointment, as he would with the other bullying events), but he was mostly just angry at the punks for upsetting his friends. The punks were never caught.

Another time Loki was with Clint and Wanda, working for the day at the famous M&M store in Times Square, when a group of obnoxious tourists started talking as loud as physically possible while asking Clint and Wanda questions. Loki felt his blood boil when he realized the tourists were taunting Clint and Wanda for needing hearing aides. Loki and Wanda may or may not have magically caused melting M&Ms to spill on top of the tourist's heads from a "broken" display tube. Clint DEFINITELY played the manager of the store a recording of one of the encounters he made on his phone. The obnoxious tourists were banned from the Times Square M&M store for life.

There was also the rainy day when Loki was assisting Bruce at the front desk of the hospital Bruce worked at sometimes. Unfortunately Bruce was having a day where his Tourette's syndrome tics were more frequent then usual. A rude child in the waiting area by the desk started imitating Bruce's tics on purpose when no one else was looking, exaggerating the actions so they were highly noticeable. Bruce saw this all and blushed in TOTAL embarrassment. Loki observed the kid for awhile before locating the kid's father. Loki wrote a note and anonymously stuck it in the father's sweatshirt hood. When the man went to put his hood up upon walking to the door the note fell out. The father picked it up and read it, and then proceeded to lecture his bratty kid. That didn't stop Bruce from feeling horribly self conscious for the rest of the day though.

Loki went to a scrap yard near the Bronx with Pepper and Vision that same night so they could get supplies for Tony to repair the repulsers used by Rescue and Iron Man, as well as to find some parts to help improve War Machine's uniform. One awful scrap yard manager started yelling and throwing foul words at Vision when Vision wouldn't verbally respond to his questions. Vision looked like the equivalent of someone who was about ready to cry, though it was unknown if he actually could based on his physical makeup. Pepper yelled at the scrap yard manager for being rude and actually attempted to slap him, but the scrap yard manager wound up grabbing her by her left hand. Her left hand is more sensitive to pain and pressure due to her nerve damage and she had forgotten her brace that day, so when the manager squeezed her hand she felt pain and cried out from it. The manager had the gaul to laugh at Pepper for that. Vision had to physically restrain Loki from stabbing the scrap yard manager. The manager had then proceeded to throw a few terrible slurs at Loki that actually made him upset enough to visibly cry. Pepper punched the manager in the face with her right hand, causing the manager to let her go. After that the manager kicked them all out of the scrap yard. They left without protest to avoid being arrested for assault, even though they thought the scrap yard manager should have been the one to get in trouble for what he did to Vision and Pepper. Bruce, still upset about himself being mocked earlier that day and now even more upset because his friends had been bullied that day as well, had to go to the basement so he could hulk out without destroying anything... or anyone. Tony and Peter nearly went ballistic when they found out about the whole thing, very nearly blowing holes in the walls with the repulsers they were repairing out of fury. Thor has to step outside to keep from setting the building on fire with lightning due to his own anger for the maltreatment of his friends and his little brother. Wanda had called for a man hunt on the scrap yard guy. Every other Avenger tried to petition for the man hunt to Steve. Steve didn't allow it, but he had looked REALLY close to being convinced. They all decided not to go to that scrap yard ever again. Loki cried himself to sleep on Thor's shoulder that night.

One time Tony and Loki were going to pick up groceries from their favorite corner store with Rhodey (who had a shift there that day) when one of the boy's braces locked up and they were left with no other choice but to carry Rhodey on Loki's back (since Loki was stronger) to the store. They would have just gone back to HQ, but they were closer to the store then HQ and Loki offered to carry the groceries in a pocket dimension. When they sat down on a bench to fix Rhodey's brace while in the store, a little girl went to give Rhodey a sticker, which she had gotten from one of those little quarter dispensers. The little girl was super nice and made Rhodey smile, but then her mother came over and told the little girl that she shouldn't go around "bothering cripples". Rhodey has gotten mad and told the woman off. Tony had secretly thanked the littles girl for being nice to his friend and gave her 75 cents so she could buy more stickers. Loki had gone in the woman's purse, partially opened her tiny bottle of hand sanitizer, and then put the bottle back where he found it. He had also used a double of himself to pick one of the wildflowers growing next to a tree on the sidewalk and put it in the girl's hair. The girl had been delighted. The woman noticed her leaking hand sanitizer in her purse and had to buy a new bottle. Rhodey was her cashier, and his leg brace had finally been fixed. The woman blushed beat red when she realized who was standing behind the counter. The store owner did not accept her coupons that day, and he did not offer her paper towels to clean her bag. The little girl waved goodbye to Rhodey as she left the store with her mother. The mother was smart enough not to complain about her kid speaking to Rhodey again.

That same day Loki and Tony were helping a customer who kept giving Tony dirty looks whenever he accidentally forgot where something was located or what he was doing in that moment (AN: forgetfulness is a common ADHD symptom). The customer wound up leaving without actually saying anything mean, but Tony still felt his confidence in himself drop down a couple of points. Loki hated not being able to help Tony feel better.

Sam once punched a guy in the face for trying to take advantage of Loki falling asleep in public because he forgot to take his narcolepsy medication. The guy had been attempting to mug Loki. Loki had then woken up and kicked the robber's $$ for insulting Sam. Loki was able to claim self defense against robbery. The robber had no excuse like that, so he ran. The robber wound up being arrested for another crime three days later.

The absolute worst thing for Loki to see was when his BROTHER got bullied. He noticed rude people using offensive hand gestures behind Thor's back because he couldn't see them. Loki didn't tell Thor about them. One day however, a few mean kids started throwing things at the back of Thor's head and hiding so Loki couldn't find them while they were out dumpster diving again. The rude kids ran away after they were seen throwing sticky mud at both brothers by passers by. Loki never caught them because he was too busy trying to calm Thor down from the panic attack the sudden mud throwing had caused him to have. Loki wished for the first time that the Warriors Three and Lady Sif had been there so they could chase the bullies across the city while Thor and he were unable to. It wouldn't be the last time he wished it either.

One time Loki went to the corner store by himself. On his way back he had to pretend that he couldn't see the group of girls at a bus stop that were clearly laughing and pointing at him in order to keep himself from crying in public, again.

None of those events even covered the bullying that took place when Loki wasn't there to see it either.

The only thing that made that week better was that on Saturday night he finally managed to read the first letter in Thor's journal fully, with only minimal assistance. Loki was picking Braille up quickly. Thor was proud of him for it.

That next Monday, Tony and Bucky came back to the compound with huge smiles on their faces and told the team to come out to the garage for a surprise. Everyone was pleasantly surprised to find that there was a van style minibus in there parked next to the pickup truck. Tony told the team he and Bucky had been saving up for this for quite awhile to buy this from a used vehicle lot and fix the damages they had also made sure that Bucky passed a test for a bus driver's license JUST to make sure one of them could legally drive it. Sam said he would sign up to get the mini bus licensure test too.

Tony also announced that they were going on a new mission tomorrow. It would be Loki's first mission ever as an official Avenger.

Loki would never forget the night of his first mission the Tuesday night after their horrible week of everyone being bullied ended. That was when the Avengers picked up another alien for their team, along with he alien's human host and a few other kids... including two people who had previously meet Thor in New Mexico.


	6. Chapter 6

(Series Summary: In an alternate universe, HYDRA has done a lot of personal damage to many of the heroes of Marvel. They truly are the victims of horrible trauma. They were taken as HYDRA agents by force, used as lab rats, abused, damaged, brainwashed, mind controlled, and HURT in ways that can’t truly ever be fixed. Then they escaped, or were rescued, and they banded together to form a team. The Avengers are a group of ex child HYDRA agents who’s mission is to one day destroy HYDRA for good. Their mission is not easy, and the life they live does not help lightning the load. Living with poverty, constantly being bullied, food insecurity, all different kinds of psychological conditions including PTSD, various disabilities and physical illnesses, and almost no family members to turn while working for cash in any way they can and dumpster diving by day and raiding secret HYDRA bases by night is hard enough, especially since they live together without ANY true adults. Adding in that none of the Avengers are 18 yet (at least in Earth years) just makes it harder. They’ve really only kept their hope Alive because they have each other for support, occasionally along with their mysterious advocate Mr. Coulson and the generosity of neighbors and strangers. However, the Avengers are survivors. They refuse to give up on the hope that HYDRA won’t steal the futures they dream of, so they keep fighting any way they can.

Then one spring they start getting new teammates, and they gain more once summer rolls around. They definitely never imagined that they would receive allies from space! To think that everything changed the day the Avengers rescued a couple of new members during a HYDRA base raid, including a newly blinded boy who says his name is Prince Thor Odinson of Asgard. Then over a month later they rescue (and successfully recruit) Thor’s brother Prince Loki Odinson, who is QUITE shocked to find out that Thor is not only blind, but is in fact ALIVE, especially considering that Thor was thought to be dead for over two years when his elder brother disappeared without a trace after his banishment ended! Thor meanwhile is shocked to learn that HYDRA had been holding Loki captive almost as long as they had held Thor, and that HYDRA had left Loki with one less leg than he had the last time he had seen him. Two weeks after Loki joins the Avengers, they rescue and recruit even MORE kids and expand the avengers even further! All of these new allies were welcome additions to the Avengers team, but when they realized that getting the Odinson brothers back to Asgard could lead to an interplanetary alliance? Well, that opened up a whole ton of new possibilities for the Avengers that could step up their small scale rebellion against HYDRA up big time! One thing is certain though, these kids are the best chance the world has of beating HYDRA once and for all.

This story will EVENTUALLY focus heavily on Thor and Loki at times so if you like the Brodinsons you’re in the right place! You’ve just got be patient! Warning: In this story I take some creative liberties with science. This story also features characters who have debilitating permanent injuries such as characters with nerve damage, blindness, injury related deafness, or who are amputees, as well as characters with in born conditions like ADHD or learning disabilities. I mean no offense if I portray something incorrectly or something. All of the Avengers will have PTSD in this story. This is not a story for young children due to sensitive topics.)

(Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel or any Marvel Characters in any way, shape, or form.)

(What’s the difference between form and shape anyway?)

(AN: I will no longer be adding new stories to [fanfiction.net](http://fanfiction.net), but I will keep updating this one.

If you’re on AO3, you may have noticed that this work has been added to a series called Forge Fire! Be on the lookout for a new work to be added to my Forge Fire series called “Sparks In The Forge” for more details!)

Forged by Lightning, Rescued by Love

Chapter 6

———

They were in Pennsylvania for their mission this time. The Avengers team had decided to investigate a potential HYDRA base that was a little further than their usual maximum mission distance this time because there were rumors of extraterrestrial activity in the building. Loki was especially nervous because this was his FIRST mission as an Avenger. He hoped he did a good job. Loki was grouped with Clint and Thor. They had wound up needing to incapacitate a few cronies while sneaking around. Loki was very thankful for the training he had been receiving. He was admittedly still worried about Thor, especially since he had only been declared as fully healed from his sprained ankle the day before, but Loki soon learned that Thor was still as fierce a warrior as ever, even without his sight. Loki was happy that he and Thor could truly fight side by side again. They were passing through a hallway when Loki stopped short. He had just heard something. He stepped a few more feet ahead before he heard it again.

“Clint, Thor, I think I can hear crying coming from behind this door.” Suddenly there was a strange sound, sort of like an MRI machine turning on, and suddenly the crying turned into screams of pain, but it sounded like it was two people screaming together. Thor didn’t hesitate to blow the door off with lightning upon hearing it. Clint and Loki used their knives and arrows to take down (as non-murderously as possible if they could) the guys wearing lab coats surrounding a metal table, a table that had something strapped to it... no wait! It was someONE! Or was it two someone’s? Loki and Clint weren’t sure what they were looking at exactly. There was a boy strapped to the table writhing in pain, but there was also this.... inky black form with a face and sharp teeth flowing around him in erratic movements. Clint ran to turn off the machine causing the noise. Thor used his comm link to report in to the others once Loki and Clint explained what’s they were actually seeing, and Loki decided to approach the table cautiously. The black mass was occasionally twitching (from what he could tell) and was wrapped around the chest of the boy as if trying to protect him. Loki realized that the form was sentient, whatever it was, and that he had to be careful or else the form might attack out of fear for the boy it seemed to be physically connected with. Loki put up both of his hands to show he was now unarmed and spoke calmly.

“We mean no harm to either of you. We are not HYDRA agents. Or I should say we WERE, but we’re not anymore.” The black mass finally spoke, it’s teeth shown in a sign of intimidation.

“Who are you? I’ve never seen anyone from this world dressed in pointy horns before. How do I know you’re not trying to trick me into dropping my guard?” Loki kept going.

“My name is Loki Odinson. You see, I am not actually FROM this world. Neither is my brother Thor over there by the door. We are from the realm of Asgard. The one with the arrows, Clint Barton, is just another human, but he’s on our team so he’s here as well. To tell you the truth, you actually shouldn’t trust me at all not to trick you. I am the patron or mischief and lies according to the Norse myths after all, and that is indeed true. However, I’m not naive enough to deceive beings that I actually want to like me for who I really am. You can’t build trust on a foundation of dishonesty.” The black being didn’t seem to become any more agitated by this news. It actually seemed intrigued. However, the boy the form was connected to seemed to be having trouble breathing and the black mass was watching the boy with what seemed to be worry. Loki decided that he had to get a move on.

“Listen.... We can help you out you know? I know that we don’t know you. Heck, we don’t even know either of your names, but we want to help you if you wish to get away from HYDRA. We can cut that boy free and get him to our teammate, Dr. Bruce Banner. He can figure out what’s wrong with him if he’s hurt should your friend be unable to explain.” The mass narrowed it’s eyes(?) and moved his head(?) a bit further away from the kid so he could get a better look at Loki.

“His name is Eddie Brock, and he is not injured! We can heal this boy just fine! The PROBLEM is that our lungs are not working correctly. We cannot stop the immune system from acting up and rampaging against the lungs without the strange medicine that they spray in his mouth when our breathing gets this way. Eddie needs this medicine quickly before we both start having problems. Eddie and myself are a package deal as you say. I need him alive in order to keep myself alive. If you REALLY want to help us, then give us the medicine we need to stop gasping like a fish out of water.” Clint’s eyes widened and he finally spoke.

“Hey that breathing problem sounds like asthma! If it is then the medicine you’re talking about is probably in an inhaler! There’s probably one of those around here somewhere if they’ve given it to him before! We can help you give it to him if you’ll let us! Our team wants to help free you from HYDRA after all. It would be easier to do that if Eddie there can breath properly!” The form had one more question.

“Why DO you want to free us from HYDRA, and what is this team you keep mentioning?” Thor spoke this time.

“Our team is composed of former child soldier HYDRA agents who either escaped or were rescued and are now fighting against them. We’re aiming to destroy HYDRA, to get justice for those HYDRA has made their victims, and to rescue other child soldiers like us from their clutches. WE are the Avengers, and we want you.... BOTH of you... to help us do just that, if you wish it. What do you say? Will you let us cut you and Eddie free and get you out of here... nameless creature from another world?” The black form hesitated for a moment before responding.

“You want to destroy HYDRA? I’m game for that... as long as Eddie is too. If he agrees to your proposal then we will both join you. By the way, you may call me Venom. I will let you help us. Just know that if any of you try to hurt Eddie, I will eat your heads.” Clint gulped before searching the side tables and drawers for an inhaler while Thor handed Loki his switchblade. Loki kept the knife highly visible so Venom could see what he was doing. Loki could have summoned a dagger, but he needed to keep up the assumption that he was unarmed so that Venom wouldn’t think Loki was hiding his intentions. Apparently Thor had picked up on that. Loki worked quickly and diligently to use the switchblade to free Eddie from the restraints, unlocking them one by one. Poor Eddie was shaking and crying again and was watching Loki fearfully as he struggled to breath. Venom’s head(?) was nuzzling Eddie’s chin in a seemingly comforting manner, supposedly to try and get him to calm down. As Loki was releasing the last restraint, Clint let out a cry of triumph.

“I found an inhaler with an asset label name of “Venom” on it! How much you wanna bet it’s for Eddie?” Venom suddenly let out a long tendril and snapped the inhaler out of Clint’s hand, making the archer yelp. Venom him(?)self seemed surprised.

“It seems like the restraints were suppressing our abilities more than we realized. We can’t stretch that far while they’re on. Thanks for finding that and letting us free. I think I’ll thank you by not eating your heads.” Clint was frantically asking if Venom had actually been serious about that, but Venom was ignoring Clint, choosing to help Eddie to deliver the life saving asthma medication to his lungs. A moment later a sweating and pale faced Eddie himself took a large breath of air and sat up, wiping the tears from his eyes. He took a few more breaths before he spoke.

“Thanks... for that.... I’m Eddie... I’m 16 years old....and this is Venom... I don’t know.... how old... he is....We’re glad... to not be dead.” Eddie took a few more breaths. Thor smiled.

“We are also glad that you are not dead new friend Eddie!” Eddie blinked at Thor. Thor had apparently forgotten to put his glasses back on.

“Dude.... not to... be rude.. but.. can I ask...are you blind? Not that... I MIND or anything....I’m just trying... to figure out... if that’s what’s.... going on with.... your eyes? I mean... one of them.... is metallic. Sorry.... I just get... curious.” Thor blinked, felt his forehead, realized the glasses were sitting there on top, and finally put his glasses over his eyes again before speaking.

“Oh yes, I am indeed blind. HYDRA burned my eyes with magical snake venom. One of them had to be removed and was replaced by a mechanical one, but it doesn’t give me any sort of NORMAL vision, just a special ability. The other eye is just... there. However, I don’t let this stop me from fighting against evil villains like HYDRA, or from trying to live my best life.” Eddie blinked again.

“Wow... HYDRA was.... was AWFUL to you man! Well.... you’re still... pretty awesome dude.... especially with the.... the lightning thing! Hey... you said you Avengers guys.... wanna destroy HYDRA?... Can we help with that? We want to.... but we need to find our friend Annie first.... she was at this base last I knew. I.... gotta apologize to her. We found out... Annie was vulnerable to.... mind control that would... make her kill us... if Venom.... ever lost control. She didn’t know.... and I overreacted... to the news. We gotta.... We gotta save her... and the other kids.” Loki raised an eyebrow.

“How many other kids are here?” Eddie thought for a moment before responding, his breath slowly improving as he went on.

“Ummm... far as I know...at least.... at least four? Two girls.... and two boys.... not including Annie. One of the boys.... is only like 11. The others ....are all around 15 or 16. Last time I saw them....after being separated from Annie...they were so scared man. I’m....sorry I mean WE’RE.... worried about them.” The three Avengers looked determined to act. Clint spoke again.

“Eddie, Venom, we’re gonna go rescue all of those kids, including your friend Annie, and ask them if they wanna join the Avengers. So, do you wanna join the Avengers with them? We’ll all get to destroy HYDRA together if you do.” Eddie and Venom smirked at each other before responding together.

“We would like that.... very much.” Clint smirked too.

“Great! Welcome to the avengers. Let’s go find those kids, then we’ll take you home and you can tell us about yourselves!” Venom and Eddie fully merged together before agreeing with Clint and following after their new teammates... WITH the rescue inhaler.

______

———

Tony, Rhodey, Peter, Bruce, and Pepper were going room by room in another quadrant of the building when Peter spilt off from the group to search behind a few doors by himself. He found a teenager clutching a young boy wearing a backpack inside a storage closet. The teenager’s hands were shaking as he held the boy with one arm while apparently using the other one to control the odd, glowing, and CLEARLY magical shield surrounding himself and the younger kid he was hugging. The boy appeared to be wielding some sort of homemade weapon. The boy had fired the weapon as soon as Peter opened the door through a temporary opening in the magic shield, but Peter dodged. Peter, ever the curious kid, just couldn’t stop himself from asking his questions when he realized what the weapon was using as ammunition once he got a good look at the pair.

“Did you just shoot a potato at me? Your potato gun is cool! How does that work? Did you make it yourself? Hey why are you in this closet? You hiding from the HYDRA agents or something?” The kid stared at Peter with wide eyes. Once he realized that the kid in the red and blue suit was just standing there NOT attacking them, the teenager blinked at Peter and lowered the strange glowing shield he seemed to be manifesting around himself and the kid before speaking.

“Ummmm are you not going to incapacitate us? What kind of weirda$$ HYDRA agent are you?” Peter blinked at the teenager this time.

“I’m not a HYDRA agent... I’m a FORMER HYDRA agent though. I’m actually with a whole team of other kids like that who used to be in HYDRA but aren’t anymore. They’re all really cool friends of mine. Hey, me and my friends are trying to find other former HYDRA agent kids like us to rescue and bring together so we can take HYDRA down forever one day. You guys wanna join in on that?” The teenager and the kid looked at each other for a moment, then they looked back at Peter and spoke in unison.

“Uhhh... YEAH!?” Peter smiled.

“Awesome! Oh by the way my Asset name is Spider-Man, but you can call me- ” At that moment Tony ran over.

“PETER! Kid this is NOT a good time to-” Tony cut himself off when he finally noticed the pair in the closet. Tony and the potato gun kid gawked at the same time. The kid spoke first, but he appeared to speak with a speech impediment.

“WH-WHAT THE H-HECK!? I re-remember you! You b-broke into m-my garage ab-about two y-years ago wi-with those other g-guys! I he-helped you repair y-your truck!” The magic teenager’s jaw dropped and he before he spoke to Tony.

“You know Harley?” Tony sniffed.

“Oh YEAH I do! It’s as the kid says. I broke into his garage and he helped me and my team repair the truck that we stole the day we all escaped from HYDRA. I also broke his sister’s hello Kitty watch by mistake. Nice to see you again Harley Keener! I see you’re still making potato guns. How’s your sister doing anyway?” The kid, Harley, finally stopped pointing his potato gun at Peter, which he had forgotten to put down.

“N-Nice to see y-you too T-Tony Stark. My sis-sister is d-dead. So-so are my p-parents. Y-you owe me a n-new w-watch metal m-man!” Tony smirked.

“My Asset name is Iron Man actually.” Tony dropped his smirk for a moment. I’m sincerely sorry about your parents and sister.” Harley nodded in recognition of the apology. After that the smirk came back to Tony’s face even wider. “Hey how about I do you one better than a new watch and offer you a spot on my ultimate HYDRA takedown team Harley? It comes with a bed to sleep in and a bunch of other messed up weirdos who were all kicked around by HYDRA and now want to destroy them once and for all as roommates. We’re called the Avengers. You join our team and you could get payback for all the crud HYDRA put you through. We’ll even let your friend there join too if he wants, whatever his name is. Sound good?” Harley stood up, took a potato out of the backpack he apparently had been keeping hidden behind him, loaded the potato in the gun, and slung the backpack over his shoulder.

“A-Alright. D-Destroying HYDRA sou-sounds g-good. I-I’m in. Y-yo sparkles, y-you coming o-or what?” The teenager sighed and stood up as well.

“Yeah I’m coming. My name is Dr. Stephen Strange. Yes I’m actually a doctor, sort of. HYDRA has been, somewhat illegally, training me in the medical profession for five years now. My asset name is NOT sparkles. It’s Mystic Sawbone. Harley and me are friends, so where he goes I go. I’ll help you all destroy HYDRA as repayment if you want. HYDRA sucks and I wouldn’t mind them gone. Is that ok?” Tony smiled.

“Sounds good to me! Welcome to the Avengers you two. Stephen you’re gonna get along well with Bruce. He’s a doctor too believe it or not! Now come on, we gotta rendezvous with the rest of our team. Harley, you’re gonna remember several of them, but we’ve got a few new members. I think you’ll like them. Let’s go this way.” Peter went up to Harley.

“Maybe sometime we can upgrade your potato gun so you can make the potatoes EXPLODE once they come in contact with their targets! Like... add some kind of explosives injector or something! Then you could shoot POTATO BOMBS!” Harley smirked.

“Oh I l-like y-you! That so-sounds awesome!” Peter beamed at Harley and then they ran after Tony and Stephen, laughing the whole way.

______

———

Wanda, Vision, Steve, Sam, Bucky, and Natasha were all searching near some kitchens when they heard the sound of a door opening and things being thrown around. They all snuck inside only to find a redheaded girl in there raiding the freezer. She was crying and seemingly desperate as she threw things around. Steve decided to make himself known.

“Hey.... are you ok?” The girl suddenly gasped and took out a gun then pointed it at Steve.

“BACK OFF! I’M DONE WORKING FOR HYDRA AND I’LL GO DOWN FIGHTING BEFORE I LET YOU TAKE ME AGAIN!” Steve put up his prosthetic hand (the other was holding his shield) in a gesture of compliance.

“Wow wow wow kid calm down! We’re not HYDRA agents anymore!” The girl looked confused.

“What the he11 does THAT mean!? You don’t exactly look like you’re NOT in HYDRA anymore considering that you’re in a HYDRA base!” Sam spoke next.

“You know she makes a good point Steve.” Steve looked back at Sam with narrowed eyes.

“Sam this is NOT the time to be a smart aleck!” Sam pouted.

“Aw come on Steve I was just trying to lighten the situation.” Wanda spoke now.

“Sam, I’ve gotta be honest. That attempt was really terrible.” Vision nodded in agreement. Natasha rolled her eyes.

“Oh please. Sam couldn’t stop being a smart aleck if someone payed him for it.” Bucky was snickering now. Steve groaned in frustration.

“We’re here to rescue HYDRA agent super kids that wanna break free and destroy HYDRA, NOT to debate Sam’s nonexistent ability to read a room!” Sam shouted ‘hey!’ and the bickering continued. The girl finally noticed that they truly WEREN'T attacking her! She looked at the small group curiously, tears still falling from her eyes.

“You’re not acting according to protocol. You’re not blocking out your emotions.... and you’re not attacking me. Unless this is a cheep trick for tricking me into letting down my guard, I think you’re being serious. So if you’re not with HYDRA anymore, then what are you doing here?” Bucky responded.

“My name’s Bucky Barnes. My asset name is the Winter Soldier. Part of the reason we’re here today is that we’re trying to rescue any innocent civilians or other child soldier HYDRA agents before reporting the base to the police so they can raid it. We were thinking that could include rescuing you as well if you’d like to leave HYDRA permanently.” The girl suddenly let out a gasp.

“Wait, you’re a rescue team!? Oh my goodness, you might actually be able to help me! Please.... please help me! I’m... I’m Anne Weying. My asset name is Poison Control. I... I need to find my friends Eddie Brock and Venom! They’re my best friends. HYDRAtook them to the labs for experimentation as punishment because they found out we had an escape plan and they tried it on me too but I just escaped. I wanna leave HYDRA but I NEED to save Eddie and Venom! They’re in here somewhere being experimented on and I just KNOW that they’re STARVING and... I need to get back to them and say I’m sorry! We just found out that HYDRA originally let me stay together with them so I could kill them if Venom ever got out of control and Eddie was SO mad and I just wanna say I’m sorry! I’ll do ANYTHING! PLEASE!” Natasha walked up to the girl.

“We understand Anne. My name is Natasha Romanoff. My asset name is the Black Widow. We’re gonna help you find your friends and get out of here ok?” Annie sniffled.

“How can I ever repay you all!?” Bucky hummed.

“Hmmmm how about joining the Avengers with your friends and helping us with our ultimate goal of destroying HYDRA?” Annie smiled and wiped her eyes.

“That... that sounds good. Ok... I’ll do that. Thank you.” There was a call over the comm system from Rhodey suggesting that they all meet up at the entrance of the base before regrouping and doing another run through of the place before leaving. Steve responded, approving of the plan. He then looked at Annie.

“Anne, my name is Steve Rodgers. My asset name is Captain America. I’m the Avengers’ team leader. We’re going to meet up with the rest of our team so we can regroup and possibly resweep the building if we have to. Some of the other groups found a few other kids, so we can check to see if any of them are your friends. Are you ready?” Annie wiped her eyes again.

“I’m ready.” Steve smiled.

“Alright then. Welcome to the Avengers Anne. Let’s go.” Anne smiled and ran after her new teammates.

———

______

Thor, Eddie, Clint, and Loki were near the building’s front exit when suddenly the alarms went off. Clint groaned.

“SERIOUSLY... why does the alarm seem to go off EVERY time we’ve rescued super kids from HYDRA bases!?” Eddie raised an eyebrow.

“When was the last time you guys rescued super kids from a HYDRA base?” Loki spoke up.

“Actually, the last person they rescued and kept on the team was me less than three weeks ago. This is my first mission as a rescuer instead of as the one being rescued.” Loki threw a knife at a security camera to destroy it and cover their tracks with deadly precision. Eddie and Venom stared at Loki, clearly impressed. Eddie spoke a moment later.

“Well for a Newbie, you’re doing a really good job!” Thor made them all pause a moment and used an Echostatic Pulse going down the next hallway. Thor gasped.

“Loki, Clint, Eddie, Venom, there’s something weird going on down the next hallway. My electric sense is going haywire because there’s something that seems to be REPELLING my lightning! I may not be able to help you fight this foe.” Suddenly there was a sick chuckle and a feminine voice spoke.

“My oh my Static Slayer, you’ve been quite a disobedient boy haven’t you? HYDRA is NOT pleased with what you’ve been doing you know?” Thor gasped.

“I know that voice! Is that you Jane!?” Thor paused in realization for a moment. “Oh no, you’re using my asset name.... clearly you’ve been brainwashed by HYDRA!” Suddenly a new voice spoke.

“Awwww Static Slayer, don’t forget about me just because SHE’S here! I thought we were friends too!?” Thor gasped again.

“Darcy!? No not you too!” The figures finally revealed themselves to the Avengers by walking out from around the corner. Now Eddie, Loki, and Clint could see the two girls. They were wearing some kind of modernized tech infused getup. Loki noticed that Jane’s eyes were two different colors. He finally realized that one of those colors looked like Thor’s, but not quite as whitewashed, allowing some of the original color to come through. Loki narrowed his own eyes when he figured out why.

“Thor... one of the girl’s eyes is partly blind.” Thor gasping before suddenly removing his glasses and handing them to Loki. Loki was confused.

“Thor what are you doing!?” Thor took a deep breath before speaking to Jane and Darcy, who were visibly shocked to see Thor’s eyes.

“Darcy, Jane, look at me! Do you see this!? HYDRA did this to me! They hurt me, AND they hurt you! I don’t know WHAT they brainwashed you into thinking, but the Darcy and Jane that I knew from New Mexico didn’t tolerate people who hurt others for their own gain, which is EXACTLY what HYDRA has done to us! I know the real Darcy and Jane are in there, and I know that they are FIGHTING to get out and make HYDRA wish they never laid a hand on any of us! PLEASE! Please fight to break free of the mind control!” The two girls suddenly seemed to be fighting off headaches, but then they shook their heads. Jane pulled a knife from a holster on her sleeve. Darcy pulled out a taser and spoke up.

“Sorry Static Slayer, but I’m afraid that in light of your actions, HYDRA has ordered your elimination.” Darcy then activated her taser, but Loki pushed Thor out of the way. One of the taser prongs managed to catch Loki’s wrist and burn him. Thor gasped as Loki cried out in pain.

“Loki what happened!?” Venom’s head(?) popped out again. Loki clutched his wrist.

“I’m ok, just a burn to the wrist. Thor, I think I can break the mind control using magic, but I need to get close enough to touch their heads! Can you, Clint, Venom, and Eddie help with that?” The aforementioned people all nodded their heads. Venom started fully manifesting around Eddie.

“We think that we can pin down your lady friends, but we need to get that sparky thing away from that one girl.” Clint swallowed in nervousness as he notched an arrow on his bow. Venom was pretty intimidating to look at when he came out completely. Thor flipped his hammer in the air before catching it (impressively).

“I can handle Darcy’s taser, though I would like to avoid getting knocked out by it again. Perhaps my hammer can help with that. Eddie and Venom can pin Jane down first. I’ll fight Darcy until she’s disarmed. Clint, try to distract the girls with a few of your arrows. Loki.... wait for the right moment, then strike like the snake I know you can turn into.” Loki gulped.

“Thor... I think there’s a problem with my shape shifting.... my prosthetic doesn’t shift with me, and my missing leg stays missing. You’re probably gonna have to defend me for a minute to put it back on should I actually shift and then return to my Aiser form.” Thor just yelled out that that was no problem before he and Eddie/Venom started fighting Jane and Darcy. Clint purposefully aimed his arrows so they didn’t hurt the girls too badly, mostly aiming for the edges of their clothes. It only took three minutes for Jane to get pinned before Loki finally managed to reach her. He sorted through her memories until he found the ones that were locked away by the brain washing. He unlocked them and Jane screamed for a moment before slumping into unconsciousness. Venom and Eddie gently propped the girl against the wall before they moved to help Loki and Thor fight Darcy. It took another two minutes to take her down before she too had her mind unlocked by Loki. Thor and Clint decided to wait with Jane until she woke up again while Loki, Eddie and Venom did the same with Darcy. Darcy woke up first. She blinked up at Loki and smiled.

“Woooow am I dead? Because I’m kinda ok with that if I’m waking up in heaven to a cute guy looking down on me like this!” Loki chuckled.

“You’re not quite dead yet Lady Darcy. You have however been freed of HYDRA’s mind control along with your friend Lady Jane.” Darcy’s eyes suddenly widened and she frantically turned her head both ways until she saw Jane, who was also just waking up again. Darcy sighed in relief that her friend was ok. Jane blinked up at Thor and gasped.

“Oh my goodness THOR it’s really you! I am SOOOOOO sorry for trying to kill you! It wasn’t really me! I’m glad you’re still alive! I’m really sorry about your vision though. I know what it’s like loosing sight in one eye if that helps.” Thor helped Jane to stand up.

“Don’t worry about it Jane. You weren’t at fault for any of this.” Loki helped Darcy stand up. Jane looked around at the people around her with her good eye.

“Darcy are you ok? Thor who are we with right now?” Darcy gave a thumbs up.

“Oh I’m just fine! I’ve got a cute guy here after all!” Thor chuckled.

“I’m not entirely sure if you’re talking about Clint, Eddie and Venom, or my brother Loki right now Lady Darcy.” Jane gasped.

“Your BROTHER is here!?!? What the heck Thor!?!?” Thor responded quickly, not to mention awkwardly.

“Ah yes um my brother is reformed now Jane! He and the other members of the team I came here with, the Avengers, are all former HYDRA agent kids just like the two of us and Darcy! My brother was taken by HYDRA because he came to Earth to uh bring home my corpse after I was presumed dead, but instead they brainwashed him into becoming an agent same as us. Loki and I have reconciled our differences and are working together with the Avengers to achieve our long term goal of destroying HYDRA! Loki’s been really really good Jane! Please give him another chance? I promise that he won’t send out any more death bots!” Jane sighed.

“Alright Thor, I’ll do it for you because we’re friends and because I believe in second chances. Now which one is your brother?” Loki raised his hand.

“That would be me. Loki Odinson. Asset name: Liesmith.” Darcy turned back to Loki excitedly and shook hands with him.

“Well hello cutie! My name’s Darcy Lewis. They gave me the asset name Circuit Breaker. We’re actually Thor’s friend that you almost blew up in New Mexico with that Metal Monster thing when you tried to kill him. Sorry about trying to taser you. Thanks for unscrambling our brains! I’m glad to know that you’re not evil anymore!” Jane lightly smacked Darcy’s shoulder before speaking.

“Darcy that’s not nice!” She then turned to Loki. “Please don’t be mad at her. She’s not trying to be rude with what she says. I’m Jane Foster. My Asset Name is Storm Chaser. Darcy and I became friends with Thor while he was in New Mexico during his banishment to Earth. We helped him to learn how to be a better person, and we were there when he got his powers back and defeated that destroyer thing. HYDRA kidnapped me and Darcy two months after Thor went MIA. They brainwashed us into becoming assassins. We were specifically trained to work against Thor. Our armor was purposefully made to keep us from getting electrocuted by his lightning. Actually, we were about to be sent to find and take him out tomorrow. Thanks for breaking the mind control before that happened.” Loki chuckled as he and Jane shook hands.

“Lady Darcy did not offend me at all. I am rather amused by her antics actually. I apologize for my careless and violent actions against you and Miss Darcy two years ago Lady Jane, and I thank you for giving me another chance to prove to you that I’m not as bad a person as I seemed to be. I’m sorry that HYDRA victimized you and Lady Darcy, but now you have a chance to do something about it. Thor and I were rescued from HYDRA by a group known as the Avengers, who we’re here with tonight. We in the Avengers are dedicated to finding a way to destroy HYDRA one day, as well as saving “super kids” like us from their clutches and Avenging the victims they made. So... Lady Jane, would you and Lady Darcy like to join the Avengers and embark with us in our mission to one day defeat HYDRA once and for all?” Darcy spoke first.

“Uhh HE11 YEAH we would! Right Jane!?” Jane smiled and nodded.

“Most DEFINITELY!” Loki smirked at Thor.

“I like her!” Clint smiled now.

“Awesome! I’m Clint Barton. My asset name is Hawkeye. Welcome to the Avengers ladies!” At that moment all of the other Avengers and rescued kids showed up. Eddie spoke up a moment later.

“WOW there are ALOT of you Avengers guys aren’t there?” Suddenly Anne broke through the crowd of kids.

“EDDIE! VENOM!” Eddie saw Anne and ran over to her. He and Venom (in his own weird but endearing way) hugged her close. Eddie had happy tears in his eyes.

“ANNE! OH THANK GOD! THANK GOD YOU’RE OK! WE WERE SO WORRIED! WE’RE SORRY WE FLIPPED OUT ON YOU! IT WASN'T YOUR CHOICE! WE GET THAT NOW! WE’RE NOT MAD ANYMORE ANNE! WE’LL NEVER DOUBT YOU AGAIN! WE PROMISE!” Anne smiled and cried with him.

“And I promise the same for you two.” While Anne and Eddie were hugging, Harley and Peter noticed Venom. Peter spoke first.

“COOL! It’s like sentient super slime! AWESOME!” Harley spoke next.

“Y-Yeah! Hey s-slime dude, y-you want a p-potato?” Harley shot a potato into the air. Venom caught it and ate it in one go. Peter started geeking out again. Venom then smirked and looked back at Eddie.

“I like these two Eddie! We’re keeping them!” Eddie looked at the two kids before looking around at everyone else and smiling.

“AWESOME! You guys got all the other kids I saw in the base! Nice one! Oh by the way, I’m Eddie Brock and this is my parasite friend Venom! He shares my body because he needs me to stay alive.” Venom looked agitated.

“STOP CALLING ME A PARASITE! I’M A SYMBIOTE! WE ARE IN A MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIP!” Eddie laughed at his own joke. The alarms suddenly turned back on. The other Avengers put serious looks on their faces. Steve gave orders.

“Alright new people I’m Steve Rodgers. Asset Name: Captain America. I’m the Avengers team leader and right now I’m saying it’s time to evacuate the building!” Steve put a hand on Bucky’s shoulder. “Follow behind my friend Bucky here, because tonight he’s the escape driver! EVERYONE OUT!” The group of kids and teens all bolted for the door once Loki turned Thor in the correct direction. A lot of plowed through HYDRA goons and one destroyed doorway later they were all out of the base and running through the prairie grass to a barn in the distance. Five minutes later they were opening the barn door and running into the barn itself. Wanda wrote down the address of the barn on her wrist with a sharpie she found on a tool bench after pulling up the location on google maps. All of the kids then piled onto the Mini Bus (which they had secretly stashed in the barn to hide from HYDRA since there was no tree cover around for that purpose) and after getting out to close the barn doors again to cover their tracks were bolting down the road towards the highway. Everyone was breathing hard for awhile. Eddie nearly needed his inhaler again. A few minutes into the drive everyone calmed down enough to talk upon realizing that the danger was over. Sam spoke up first.

“So uhhhh anyone wanna figure out how to introduce everyone to each other?” Tony perked up.

“OOOOH I KNOW! How about a get to know you game!? Let’s play two truths and a lie!” Everyone but Venom, Loki, and Thor agreed excitedly. The three non-earthlings were just confused. Thor decided to ask about it first.

“Ummm my friends, some of us don’t know how to play this game.” Rhodey responded next.

“Ok basically everyone playing the game chooses two true fun facts to say about themselves and says them along with one thing that’s NOT true about them. After that the other players have to figure out which of the three things you’ve said is actually the untrue statement. I’ll start off as an example. Hi everyone, I’m Rhodey and my asset name is War Machine. My three statements are: I have a pilot’s license, I hate potato chips, and I’ve never been to Delaware. Now you all guess which one of those three statements is false!” Thor looked visibly excited.

“Oh that DOES sound fun Rhodey! Hmmm.... AH the untruth is the statement about Delaware! I know you’ve been there twice before!” Rhodey smiled.

“Correct! See? It’s easy!Now Thor since you guessed correctly and you haven’t given your statements yet, it’s your turn to introduce yourself!” Thor hummed in thought.

“Alright. Hello everyone! My name is Thor Odinson, crown prince of Asgard! My asset name is Static Slayer. My three statements are: My younger brother Loki once magically shape shifted into a snake in order to trick me into picking him up so he could stab me, Jane and Darcy hit me with a car once, and I legally own a switchblade despite living in New York City!” Darcy gasped.

“It’s the middle statement! We hit you with a car TWICE! The first time, you crash landed in front of my mom’s vehicle when you first came to Earth because we were messing around with it when we weren’t supposed to be while she wasn’t looking and we accidentally put it in gear right when you crash landed on the planet from the Bifrost, then I tasered you in shock! The SECOND time we were riding around with our boarding school teacher Mr.Selvig because he found out you were an alien and wanted to help us get you home, but Jane accidentally made Mr.Selvig turn the steering wheel out of shock and the car backed straight into you!” Thor clapped his hands.

“You are correct Lady Darcy!” Loki gasped.

“Brother, HOW do you not have BRAIN DAMAGE from getting run over by a car TWICE!?” Thor just shrugged. Pepper spoke next.

“Loki, did that snake story actually happen?” Loki crossed his arms.

“Yes it did, but I have no idea why Thor has to constantly share that story! It’s not like it was the only time I’ve stabbed him. Oh by the way I do not want to stab him anymore or stab any of you, so don’t worry about that.” Darcy giggled.

“Ohhhh this game is gonna be fun! MY TURN!”

______

———

The group played the game until they reached a run down gas station and stopped so they could get fuel. Loki and Wanda were elected to go inside to make the call to the cops about the HYDRA base. After they got back on the road they all reinstated the game. Once the game was over they played a few other games until they finally got back to New York City. Everyone was hungry and tired by the time Bucky pulled the mini bus into the Avengers garage. Steve and Vision went to the corner store to get more hygiene supplies for their new teammates. Bruce had the honor of guiding all the newbies to the nurses office along with a reluctant Loki, who would have rather not troubled Bruce with a taser burn, but Thor insisted and pointed out that antibiotics for an infection were much more expensive than Neosporin and gauze pads. Thor even went along with Loki to make sure he actually got the minor wound treated. Stephen wound up assisting Bruce in helping the others once his own, mostly minor injuries were taken care of. Everyone else found clothes for the newbies to wear for that night and the next day. They would need to find more clothes for the team soon.

After everyone had changed they went back to the living room to wait for dinner. While dinner was being done the apartment arrangements were made. Eddie and Venom decided to share a three bedroom apartment with Dr.Strange and Anne. Peter convinced Harley to bunk in his room since he actually had a bunk bed and he wanted to have someone near his own age to hang out with. Pepper and Tony agreed to the request as well since they figured keeping the kids together was a good idea. Darcy and Jane wound up taking the empty second bedroom in Thor and Loki’s place. Thor was really happy about that. Loki was just happy that Thor had a reason to be excited.

Steve and Vision came back with another dresser of drawers for the bathroom along with their supplies, saying that the store owner was just going to dump it because it had a broken handle, but he had decided to give it to them for cheep after they told him their team member numbers had increased once again. Tony and Natasha cooked dinner (which was a hodgepodge of frozen pizza and the potatoes Harley had leftover in his backpack) for the team that night. While they ate the Avengers told their new members about their plans for taking them to be evaluated at the facility and going to school in autumn, and other things they needed to know about. Everyone but Eddie and Venom agreed instantly that they wanted to go back to school. Even Stephen agreed. Unlike Bruce, Stephen Strange said that he technically didn’t have a high school diploma or a GED despite being a doctor because HYDRA fudged his records too suspiciously to get him into an entirely legal med school, so he would have to go to school again if he wanted to legitimize his illegally obtained medical degree. Eddie seemed oddly reluctant to go to school, until he admitted that he used to have a lot of trouble with math as a little kid. The others said that they didn’t mind trying to help him learn it if he still had trouble now. This is what got Eddie to agree. Venom eventually just said that he had to stick with Eddie anyway so he was going by default. Darcy and Jane has a long talk with Thor and Loki about what happened after New Mexico as well.

It turned out that Darcy’s parents were charged with child neglect for failing to report her missing within 48 hours of the school notifying them that Darcy hadn’t shown up for class and wasn’t in the dorms. Further investigation revealed more neglect evidence, such as the car incident and other things that went way back. They were sentenced to at least 10 years each, and then they were both murdered during yard fights while they were in a federal penitentiary. Jane once hacked a few databases to find that out. A quick look on the internet by Loki revealed that Jane’s mother had succumbed to cancer, making Jane an orphan as well since her Father was already long gone. Jane and Darcy had also apparently been kicked out of their boarding school because they were assumed dead. While doing the dishes, Peter had the idea for Harley to become a legal ward of May Parker so that he couldn’t be taken away from the Avengers by child protective services should he fail to be emancipated. Harley agreed excitedly. Stephen said he was already an orphan from the start and had no legal family to go to anymore. Eddie said he had ran away from home when he was 7 because his father had been an abusive jerk and he had no other family to turn to, so he was fine living with the Avengers. Anne had apparently run away with Eddie at the time because her grandmother died and she didn’t want to go into foster care.

The day had tired EVERYONE out immensely, so it didn’t take much for Steve to convince everyone to go to bed early. Everyone was able to sleep through the night due to sheer exhaustion.


	7. Chapter 7

(Series Summary: In an alternate universe, HYDRA has done a lot of personal damage to many of the heroes of Marvel. They truly are the victims of horrible trauma. They were taken as HYDRA agents by force, used as lab rats, abused, damaged, brainwashed, mind controlled, and HURT in ways that can’t truly ever be fixed. Then they escaped, or were rescued, and they banded together to form a team. The Avengers are a group of ex child HYDRA agents who’s mission is to one day destroy HYDRA for good. Their mission is not easy, and the life they live does not help lightning the load. Living with poverty, constantly being bullied, food insecurity, all different kinds of psychological conditions including PTSD, various disabilities and physical illnesses, and almost no family members to turn while working for cash in any way they can and dumpster diving by day and raiding secret HYDRA bases by night is hard enough, especially since they live together without ANY true adults. Adding in that none of the Avengers are 18 yet (at least in Earth years) just makes it harder. They’ve really only kept their hope Alive because they have each other for support, occasionally along with their mysterious advocate Mr. Coulson and the generosity of neighbors and strangers. However, the Avengers are survivors. They refuse to give up on the hope that HYDRA won’t steal the futures they dream of, so they keep fighting any way they can.

Then one spring they start getting new teammates, and they gain more once summer rolls around. They definitely never imagined that they would receive allies from space! To think that everything changed the day the Avengers rescued a couple of new members during a HYDRA base raid, including a newly blinded boy who says his name is Prince Thor Odinson of Asgard. Then over a month later they rescue (and successfully recruit) Thor’s brother Prince Loki Odinson, who is QUITE shocked to find out that Thor is not only blind, but is in fact ALIVE, especially considering that Thor was thought to be dead for over two years when his elder brother disappeared without a trace after his banishment ended! Thor meanwhile is shocked to learn that HYDRA had been holding Loki captive almost as long as they had held Thor, and that HYDRA had left Loki with one less leg than he had the last time he had seen him. Two weeks after Loki joins the Avengers, they rescue and recruit even MORE kids and expand the avengers even further! All of these new allies were welcome additions to the Avengers team, but when they realized that getting the Odinson brothers back to Asgard could lead to an interplanetary alliance? Well, that opened up a whole ton of new possibilities for the Avengers that could step up their small scale rebellion against HYDRA up big time! One thing is certain though, these kids are the best chance the world has of beating HYDRA once and for all.

This story will EVENTUALLY focus heavily on Thor and Loki at times so if you like the Brodinsons you’re in the right place! You’ve just got be patient! Warning: In this story I take some creative liberties with science. This story also features characters who have debilitating permanent injuries such as characters with nerve damage, blindness, injury related deafness, or who are amputees, as well as characters with in born conditions like ADHD or learning disabilities. I mean no offense if I portray something incorrectly or something. All of the Avengers will have PTSD in this story. This is not a story for young children due to sensitive topics.)

(Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel or any Marvel Characters in any way, shape, or form)

(What’s the difference between form and shape anyway?)

(Chapter Summary:The newest Avengers get evaluated and the Odinson siblings receive a special copy of the files)

Forged by Lightning, Rescued by Love

Chapter 7

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The next day began with the wake up bell blaring throughout the building. The newbie Avengers that were rescued the previous night were all startled and confused of course, and a flurry of activity lead to all of them finding the more experienced Avengers in the common room helping Steve cook pancakes. The newbies got the first few spots in line for food. Loki got stuck helping with dishes once breakfast was over, but he didn’t complain because he was feeling empathetic towards the newbies today. He knew how hard today was going to be. After that the new Avengers were given the whole spiel about the bathroom rules, were shown their drawers (Tony had fixed the new set because he woke up way too early and couldn’t go back to sleep again), and were all given the green light to start getting ready for the day. Peter agreed to let Harley share his shampoo. The girls encountered having to wait in line for their showers for the first time since they always had lower numbers than the boys and three showers to themselves (Back in the early days it was just Pepper and Natasha as the only lady Avengers. They had done the shower arrangements while anticipating the addition of more female members in the future of the Avengers. Clearly they had been right since Wanda, and then Darcy and Jane, had shown up.) so they had to learn how to compromise on shower time and order pretty quickly that day. Eventually though, everyone was ready and headed to the mini bus so they could go to the facility. Mr. Coulson and May Parker greeted them at the inside door. Peter grabbed Harley’s hand and immediately pulled him towards his Aunt May.

“Aunt May this is Harley! He’s awesome! Thank you for helping him!” May smiled.

“It’s no problem Peter. I couldn’t just leave a kid like Harley to be shuffled around by the foster care system. After all when you called me last night I just knew you two would get along great! Hello Harley, I’m May Parker. I’m sorry about everything that happened to you because of HYDRA, but now you have another chance at having a family. I’ve been here awhile arranging the documentation that would allow you to legally be my ward, but just like Peter, I think you’ll be happy living with the Avengers if that’s what you want.” Harley smiled.

“Th-Thank you m-ma’am! It’s a p-pleasure!” May then introduced herself to the other new Avengers. Stephen was watching from the sidelines when he suddenly seemed to... sense something At that moment, something red seemingly fell out of the sky and landed right on top of Stephen’s shoulders. Stephen yelped for a moment before a huge smile came over his face as he realized what was happening.

“CLOAK! YOU CAME BACK!” The red thing, apparently a cloak, frantically wrapped itself around Stephen’s whole body as if in a frantic worried search of injuries before finally settling down on Stephen’s shoulders. Stephen popped the collar so it was turned upwards, sort of like how you would imagine Dracula to dress in an old horror movie. Stephen pulled the cloak tightly around him in his own version of a hug. The others were all confused, especially Thor who couldn’t see anything that was happening, so Stephen responded quickly.

“Oh right, I need to explain this. Ok so this is my magical, semi-sentient cloak of levitation. The cloak choose me to be it’s keeper of sorts not too long ago. HYDRA separated us recently for experimentation. I thought it was lost forever! I’m.... I’m really glad to have it back.” The cloak once again hugged itself around Stephen and flicked one of it’s corners almost as though to say it agreed with him. Everyone decided to just accept the cloak as it was. Mr. Coulson finally spoke.

“Well it seems like you Avengers kids have gotten pretty large! I think you almost have enough members to start making bigger plans against HYDRA! Personally I wish none of you had ever been hurt by HYDRA in the first place, but at least you have each other to lean on when things get hard. My name is Phil Coulson. I’m the Avengers’s legal advocate, and I’m gonna walk you through the evaluations you guys will be doing with the doctors and other professionals today. We can go as slow as you need. We’re here to help you. You kids ready?” Harley, Stephen, Eddie with Venom, Anne, Darcy, and Jane all looked at Coulson with determination clear in their expressions. They went through the doors together, grabbing each other by the hand as they walked on.

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File 0, Version 4.0

Group Name: The Avengers

Original Avengers Members: Dr. Bruce Banner, Natasha Romanov, Clint Barton, Steve Rodgers, James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes, Sam Wilson, James “Rhodey” Rhodes, Virginia “Pepper” Potts, and Anthony Howard “Tony” Stark.

Second Wave Avengers Members (Members that were added later): Thor Odinson, Vision Jarvis, Wanda Maximoff, Peter Parker, Loki Odinson, Harley Keener, Edward “Eddie” Charles Allan Brock / Venom Symbiote, Anne Weying, Darcy Lewis, Jane Foster, and Dr. Stephen Strange.

Team Leader: Steve Rodgers

Head Quarters Building Owner: Anthony Howard “Tony” Stark

Notes: HYDRA is a terrorist organization that was originally formed by the Third Reich, otherwise known as the Nazi Empire, who’s main goal is to take over and rule the world. All of the members of the Avengers team are former HYDRA agents. HYDRA kidnapped and/or found the original and second wave Avengers members and either forced or manipulated them, if not both, into joining HYDRA’s ranks. After serving HYDRA for various amounts of time, the original Avengers decided to break out of the HYDRA together. The Avengers were eventually able to free themselves and come together to form a team. The original members all escaped HYDRA on the same day. The NYPD recognize the Avengers as a gang due to their tendency to perform vigilante actions in pursuit of HYDRA cells hidden throughout New York City and the surrounding bureaus, and because their actions are considered to be unsupervised by any legal guardians. All Avengers members are victims of illegal human experimentation (human being used as a term being used to represent their status as a person even if they are not biologically human by species), mind control, brainwashing, and torture, which lead to all of them developing or exacerbating, if not both, their various types of physical disabilities and mental disabilities and disorders, with a substantial presence of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) among nearly all, if not ALL, members. The goal of the Avengers is to destroy HYDRA and avenge the fallen who were killed, or who’s lives were uprooted or destroyed by HYDRA’s actions as well as to rescue (and possibly recruit security wave members into the Avengers) other kids and teens like them who were forced into working for HYDRA.

Avengers Motto: If we can’t protect, then we’ll avenge.

Subnote: Current records of the torture methods the Avengers were subjected to while under the control of HYDRA can be found attached to the actual medical records instead of the file summary pages.

Subnote 2: Ages in all files are updated and changed at the beginning of each new year.

Subnote 3: Current second wave Avengers were rescued from HYDRA by the other Avengers while on missions. Not all second wave Avengers were rescued at the same time.

———

______

(AN: I don’t know the real birth date so I’m going off what the fandom or my imagination says)

File 14, Version 1.0

Name: Harley Keener

Birthdate: August 12th (best assumption based on memory)

Age: 11

Sex: Male

Asset Name: Knickknack

Notes: Harley Keener is currently one of the only two Avengers that did not join as a teenager, due to being younger than 13 upon being rescued from HYDRA (the other being fellow second wave Avenger Peter Parker). Before the Avengers became an official team, Harley previously assisted the original Avengers during their initial escape from HYDRA after the original Avengers broke into his family’s garage. At the time, Harley helped the original Avengers to repair their getaway vehicle. Harley grew up in Tennessee with his parents and sister until the day a tornado destroyed their home. Harley was the only survivor found in the debris, but he never made it to the hospital for examination because HYDRA hijacked and stole the ambulance he was riding in, kidnapping him in the process. HYDRA used Harley for experimentation and small scale, unusual weapons engineering. Due to HYDRA experimentation, Harley developed a stutter. Further examination reveals that Harley has a disability known as Dyspraxia (a condition that affects planning and fine motor skills), which may have been either caused or worsened due to HYDRA’s experimentation on his nervous system, and may have contributed to the development of his stutter. Even so, Harley is a child genius who can easily build weapons out of unconventional materials. Even though he now lives in with the Avengers full time, Harley is under the legal guardianship of May Parker, who also attains legal guardianship of fellow Avenger Peter Parker. (Officially diagnosed with Dyspraxia, PTSD, and a stutter)

Subnote 1: Harley was rescued from HYDRA along with fellow second wave Avengers Dr. Stephen Strange, Darcy Lewis, Jane Foster, Eddie Brock, Anne Weying, and Venom Symbiote while the Avengers, both original and and second wave Avengers not mentioned in this subnote by name, were on a mission infiltrating a HYDRA base.

______

———

(AN: I don’t know the real birth dates so I’m going off what the fandom or my imagination says)

File 15, Version 1.0

Subnote 1: This file contains information for two people based on a unique biological situation requiring both persons to equally share one body.

Name 1: Edward “Eddie” Charles Allan Brock

Name 2: Venom Symbiote (Last name given for the sake of legal records)

Birthdate 1: March 19th (best assumption based on memory)

Birthdate 2: Unknown (March 19th assigned for the sake of records)

Age 1: 16

Age 2: Unknown (15 has been assigned for the sake of records.) 

Sex 1: Male

Sex 2: Male? (Unknown biology makes this portion hard to determine.)

Asset Name 1 and 2: Venom 

Notes: Edward “Eddie” Charles Allan Brock ran away from his abusive home life along with fellow Avenger Anne Weying when he was a child. While living on the streets, Anne and Eddie were kidnapped by HYDRA and put through the usual HYDRA brainwashing, torture, experimentation, and mind control process that forced them to become HYDRA agents. During experimentation, Eddie was introduced to fellow Avenger Venom Symbiote. Venom is a symbiote type being from outer space belonging to an alien species he claims is called the Klyntar. Venom was found by HYDRA agents among the ruble of a spacecraft crash in Malaysia and taken back to HYDRA’s labs via canister against his own will, which in the eyes of the evaluators counts as a kidnapping. Venom was also the victim of HYDRA experimentation, mind control, brainwashing, and torture. The Klyntar have a unique biology that requires them to physically bond with a host figure that matches their physical needs on a personal and biological level in order to survive on Earth. This includes Venom. Upon introduction Eddie became Venom’s host, leading to Venom and Eddie sharing Eddie’s body. Venom and Eddie, along with Anne Weying, worked as HYDRA field agents and assassins, and were the frequent subjects of excessive experimentation. Eddie and Venom broke their mind control after having a fight with Anne, who also broke her mind control. Afterwards Eddie, Anne, and Venom were rescued from HYDRA along with fellow second wave Avengers Dr. Stephen Strange, Harley Keener, Darcy Lewis, and Jane Foster while the Avengers, both original and and second wave Avengers not mentioned by name, were on a mission infiltrating a HYDRA base. Due to HYDRA experimentation, Eddie developed Asthma, which Venom also shares so long as he is joined together with Eddie due to the fact that he is using Eddie’s body, including his lungs, in order to survive. Eddie is currently in need of a rescue inhaler to counter asthma attacks. Upon further examination, it was discovered that Eddie also has a learning disability specific to mathematical abilities known as Dyscalculia. (Venom has gained separate legal citizenship status for the sake of records.) (Venom was officially diagnosed with all PTSD and Asthma) (Eddie was officially diagnosed with PTSD, Asthma, and Dyscalculia)

Subnote 2: Eddie, Anne, and Venom were rescued together from HYDRA along with fellow second wave Avengers Dr. Stephen Strange, Harley Keener, Darcy Lewis, and Jane Foster while the Avengers, both original and and second wave Avengers not mentioned in this by name, were on a mission infiltrating a HYDRA base.

———

______

(AN: I don’t know the real birth date so I’m going off what the fandom or my imagination says)

File 14, Version 1.0

Name: Anne Weying

Birthdate: February 2nd (best assumption based on memory)

Age: 15

Sex: Female

Asset Name: Poison Control

Notes: Anne Weying ran away from home after the death of her last living family member along with fellow Avenger Eddie Brock when she was a child. While living on the streets, they were kidnapped by HYDRA and put through the usual HYDRA brainwashing, torture, experimentation, and mind control process that forced them to become HYDRA agents. Anne was trained as an assassin. Eddie and Venom broke their mind control after having a fight with Anne, who also broke her mind control. Unbeknownst to Anne, Eddie, or fellow Avenger Venom Symbiote, Anne was trained while brain washed to specifically fight against and eliminate Eddie and Venom should they ever be compromised or get out of control. Thankfully Anne was never ordered to follow through on those orders. Due to experimentation, Anne received (most likely permanent) nerve damage to her right elbow, which is countered with some efficiency by a flexible elbow brace. (Officially diagnosed with PTSD and nerve damage of the elbow)

Subnote: Eddie, Anne, and Venom were rescued together from HYDRA along with fellow second wave Avengers Dr. Stephen Strange, Harley Keener, Darcy Lewis, and Jane Foster while the Avengers, both original and and second wave Avengers not mentioned in this subnote by name, were on a mission infiltrating a HYDRA base.

———

______

(AN: I don’t know the real birth date so I’m going off what the fandom or my imagination says)

File 15, Version 1.0

Name: Darcy Lewis

Birthdate: April 1st

Age: 15

Sex: Female

Asset Name: Circuit Breaker

Notes: Darcy Lewis is formerly a boarding school student who along with fellow Avenger Jane Foster encountered fellow Avenger Thor Odinson during his banishment on Earth. Jane and Darcy helped the banished prince to earn the repealing of his banishment by teaching him to be a better person. Two months after HYDRA kidnapped Thor, Jane and Darcy were also kidnapped by HYDRA. HYDRA turned both Jane and Darcy into assassins that were also trained and armed while under mind control to specifically counter the powers of Thor should the Asgardian prince ever become compromised enough for his death to become “necessary” for the HYDRA organizational leaders to order. Thankfully Jane and Darcy were freed from mind control and rescued from HYDRA by the Avengers, including fellow Avengers Loki and Thor Odinson during one of their missions. Darcy is very adept at the use of taser based weapons. Due to HYDRA experimentation, Darcy was given knee replacement surgery and also received nerve damage to that same knee. A knee brace is somewhat effective at countering this condition. Upon further examination of Darcy’s physical and mental health history, it was discovered that Darcy had been diagnosed as a child with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Darcy also has Somnambulism, or sleepwalking disorder, but it is unknown whether or not HYDRA experimentation has a hand in it’s cause. (Officially diagnosed with PTSD, Somnambulism, nerve damage of the knee, and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder - ADHD)

Subnote: Darcy was rescued from HYDRA along with fellow second wave Avengers Dr. Stephen Strange, Harley Keener, Jane Foster, Eddie Brock, Anne Weying, and Venom Symbiote while the Avengers, both original and and second wave Avengers not mentioned in this subnote by name, were on a mission infiltrating a HYDRA base.

———

______

(AN: I don’t know the real birth date so I’m going off what the fandom or my imagination says)

File 16, Version 1.0

Name: Jane Foster

Birthdate: June 9th

Age: 16

Sex: Female

Asset Name: Storm Chaser

Notes: Jane Foster is formerly a boarding school student who along with fellow Avenger Darcy Lewis encountered fellow Avenger Thor Odinson during his banishment on Earth. Jane and Darcy helped the banished prince to earn the repealing of his banishment by teaching him to be a better person. Two months after HYDRA kidnapped Thor, Jane and Darcy were also kidnapped by HYDRA. HYDRA turned both Jane and Darcy into assassins that were also specifically trained and armed while under mind control to specifically counter the powers of Thor should the Asgardian prince ever become compromised enough for his death to become necessary for the HYDRA organization to order. Thankfully Jane and Darcy were freed from mind control and rescued from HYDRA by the Avengers, including fellow Avengers Loki and Thor Odinson, during one of their missions. Due to HYDRA experimentation, Jane is now partially blind in one eye. Upon further examination of Jane’s physical and mental health history, it was discovered that Jane has a learning disability known as Dysgraphia, which affects her abilities in spelling, grammar, fine motor control, and writing. (Officially diagnosed with PTSD, Dysgraphia, and partial blindness in one eye)

Subnote: Jane was rescued from HYDRA along with fellow second wave Avengers Dr. Stephen Strange, Darcy Lewis, Harley Keener, Eddie Brock, Anne Weying, and Venom Symbiote while the Avengers, both original and and second wave Avengers not mentioned in this subnote by name, were on a mission infiltrating a HYDRA base.

———

______

(AN: I don’t know the real birth date so I’m going off what the fandom or my imagination says)

File 17, Version 1.0

Name: Dr. Stephen Strange

Birthdate: November 12th (Day estimated based on memory for the sake of records)

Age: 16

Sex: Male

Asset Name: Mystic Sawbone

Notes: After a car crash killed the rest of his family as a child, Stephen was raised by a group of magic users known as the Masters of the Mystic arts, where he learned how to use incredible natural magic. Stephen utilizes a magical cloak of levitation to fly along with using other magical abilities and powers. This power attracted the attention of HYDRA, who sent agents to locate and kidnap the boy after stalking him all the wayback to the sanctum where he lived with his two mentors, who Stephen says were named Wong and The Ancient One. The HYDRA agents who kidnapped Stephen destroyed the sanctum and murdered both Wong and The Ancient One. Stephen was illegally admitted to medical school despite not having a GED or high school diploma, and successfully completed the medical degree requirements. HYDRA often used him to make sure that their victims remained alive while they were implementing their torture methods and also used Stephen as a test subject for new methods. Due to HYDRA experimentation and torture, Stephen received extensive nerve damage in his hands, which often impede his fine motor movements and cause him pain. Stephen is able to counter this somewhat effectively through the use of his magic. Upon further examination of Stephen’s physical and mental health history, it was discovered that Stephen has a condition known as bipolar disorder (type 2), which makes Stephen susceptible to hypomaniac episode (which is a less severe form of a manic episode) as well as depressive episodes. Medication for managing this condition is suggested and will be provided to Stephen. (Officially diagnosed with PTSD, Bipolar 2 Disorder, and permanent nerve damage of the hands)

Subnote: Stephen was rescued from HYDRA along with fellow second wave Avengers Harley Keener, Darcy Lewis, Jane Foster, Eddie Brock, Anne Weying, and Venom Symbiote while the Avengers, both original and and second wave Avengers not mentioned in this subnote by name, were on a mission infiltrating a HYDRA base.

———

______

File 10, Version 2.0

Name: Peter Parker

Birthdate: August 10th

Age: 10

Sex: Male

Asset Name: Spider-Man

Subnote 1: Peter Parker was rescued from HYDRA along with fellow second wave avengers Wanda Maximoff, Vision Jarvis, and Thor Odinson while the original avengers were in a mission raiding a HYDRA hideout.

Notes: Peter Parker is currently one of the only two Avengers that did not join as a teenager, due to being younger than 13 upon being rescued from HYDRA (the other being fellow second wave Avenger Harley Keener). He was kidnapped from the midst of plane wreckage after a plane crash that he was in with his family killed his parents. Peter was experimentally subjected to the bite of a radioactive spider, which resulted in a genetic mutation that gave him spider based super powers. Peter has super strength, heighten senses, advanced healing, has the ability to stick to, walk on, and climb on almost anything including walls and ceilings, and has a sixth sense that alerts Peter to danger that he calls his Spidey Sense. Peter’s heightened senses sometimes cause him to have sensory overload. This has lead to a diagnosis of Sensory Processing Disorder. Peter was primarily tasked with field work, working in a team with fellow Avengers Vision Jarvis and Wanda Maximoff, as well as Pietro Maximoff. Peter is a child genius. Peter’s last living family member and technical legal guardian, his Aunt May Parker, revealed that Peter received a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder when he was younger. Peter occasionally has issues with fine motor control. Peter’s weapons of choice are synthetically created spider webs, which are projected from “web shooter” devices that he designed himself. Peter Parker and fellow Avenger Harley Keener are both under true legal guardianship of Peter’s aunt May Parker, even though Peter and Harley technically live with the Avengers team. (Officially diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Sensory Processing Disorder, and PTSD)

______

———

“And there you all have it. These are the official records for all 21 of you kids, or is it 20 kids and whatever Venom is? Oh well, here are the file copies. I’ve taken the liberty of giving you kids two new lockboxes for each set of copies. Also here’s the flash drive. So Loki and Thor, why did you request copies of all of the Avengers’ updated files just for yourselves again?” Loki and Thor, with permission from the other members of the team, had requested a full copy set of the Avengers files both printed and on digital flash drive. However, they hadn’t actually explained their reasons to Mr. Coulson before making the request formally. Thor responded in order to provide an explanation.

“We’re going to take these files with us to Asgard when we finally discover a way back. Part of the reason is that if HYDRA ever compromises our records, they won’t be able to alter or destroy a set of copies that isn’t on Earth. The other reason is that we realized that we may need the help of Asgard to defeat HYDRA. Loki and I may need to use these records to convince our mother and father, who are still Asgard’s king and queen, of just how dangerous and evil HYDRA truly is. If a force like HYDRA were ever to spread across the nine realms, all of existence could be put in danger from the power they would wield.” Loki, arms folded over his chest, responded with a hint of a sigh in his voice.

“The last reason is that letting our parents and friends read the records is the easiest way to answer all of the questions they are bound to have about everything HYDRA has done to us. They.... they are bound to be deeply disturbed and upset.” Coulson smiled sadly.

“I understand. I know this can’t be easy for you, but I’ll support you in this decision. You deserve nothing less than that. Alright Avengers, i think we all know that we’re done for the day. Just remember to take your medication and refills with you everyone. It’s been a long day. You kids go home and rest. You’re probably completely exhausted and emotional. Remember you can call if you need more help. I’ll but in a good word with STA about all of the school admissions for you new kids. Have a good evening.” Everyone thanked Coulson before they headed to the minibus to get back to the compound. Peter and Harley hugged May before she had to leave to go back upstate for her night shift before joining the others.

The drive back to HQ was weirdly quiet for the group. As expected, once they all returned to HQ and settled into the common room, the crying began. The newest members of the team were soon sobbing in order to release all of the emotions that they were now uncontrollably raging within them because their past trauma was brought up. Some of the other Avengers were hugging the new kids to try to comfort them. Thor and Loki wound up helping Bucky cook dinner for everyone that night. They were starting to run low on food. The Avengers would have to focus on that in their dumpster diving excursions tomorrow. Bruce decided to pick a DVD movie from the library that night to watch on TV to try to cheer the other kids up. Thor had previously read the book the movie was based on, so he was able to picture everything in his head as he listened to the script. Before they went to bed that night, Loki and Thor discovered that they had been given a lockbox with TWO sets of keys that were hung off of two thick dog tag style chains with two keys on each chain rather than just one. There were two locks, so you needed both sets of keys to open the box because each lock and key set had a different design. The brothers decided to wear the keys as necklaces to safeguard the records until they were able to present them to their loved ones back in Asgard. One day, their parents would guard the keys. Jane and Darcy fell asleep in the sitting room of the apartment instead of in their new bedroom that night. The Odinson brothers put blankets over the girls and quietly turned out the lights, unwilling to wake them from their slumber.


	8. Chapter 8

(Series Summary: In an alternate universe, HYDRA has done a lot of personal damage to many of the heroes of Marvel. They truly are the victims of horrible trauma. They were taken as HYDRA agents by force, used as lab rats, abused, damaged, brainwashed, mind controlled, and HURT in ways that can’t truly ever be fixed. Then they escaped, or were rescued, and they banded together to form a team. The Avengers are a group of ex child HYDRA agents who’s mission is to one day destroy HYDRA for good. Their mission is not easy, and the life they live does not help lightning the load. Living with poverty, constantly being bullied, food insecurity, all different kinds of psychological conditions including PTSD, various disabilities and physical illnesses, and almost no family members to turn while working for cash in any way they can and dumpster diving by day and raiding secret HYDRA bases by night is hard enough, especially since they live together without ANY true adults. Adding in that none of the Avengers are 18 yet (at least in Earth years) just makes it harder. They’ve really only kept their hope Alive because they have each other for support, occasionally along with their mysterious advocate Mr. Coulson and the generosity of neighbors and strangers. However, the Avengers are survivors. They refuse to give up on the hope that HYDRA won’t steal the futures they dream of, so they keep fighting any way they can.

Then one spring they start getting new teammates, and they gain more once summer rolls around. They definitely never imagined that they would receive allies from space! To think that everything changed the day the Avengers rescued a couple of new members during a HYDRA base raid, including a newly blinded boy who says his name is Prince Thor Odinson of Asgard. Then over a month later they rescue (and successfully recruit) Thor’s brother Prince Loki Odinson, who is QUITE shocked to find out that Thor is not only blind, but is in fact ALIVE, especially considering that Thor was thought to be dead for over two years when his elder brother disappeared without a trace after his banishment ended! Thor meanwhile is shocked to learn that HYDRA had been holding Loki captive almost as long as they had held Thor, and that HYDRA had left Loki with one less leg than he had the last time he had seen him. Two weeks after Loki joins the Avengers, they rescue and recruit even MORE kids and expand the avengers even further! All of these new allies were welcome additions to the Avengers team, but when they realized that getting the Odinson brothers back to Asgard could lead to an interplanetary alliance? Well, that opened up a whole ton of new possibilities for the Avengers that could step up their small scale rebellion against HYDRA up big time! One thing is certain though, these kids are the best chance the world has of beating HYDRA once and for all.

This story will EVENTUALLY focus heavily on Thor and Loki at times so if you like the Brodinsons you’re in the right place! You’ve just got be patient! Warning: In this story I take some creative liberties with science. This story also features characters who have debilitating permanent injuries such as characters with nerve damage, blindness, injury related deafness, or who are amputees, as well as characters with in born conditions like ADHD or learning disabilities. I mean no offense if I portray something incorrectly or something. All of the Avengers will have PTSD in this story. This is not a story for young children due to sensitive topics.)

(Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel or any Marvel Characters in any way, shape, or form)

(What’s the difference between form and shape anyway?)

(AN: This Chapter is really short by the way.)

Forged by Lightning, Rescued by Love

Chapter 8

———

Far away in another part of the universe from where Earth was positioned in the cosmos, Queen Frigga was staring sadly into her tea cup. She was having one of those days where she was consumed by grief for her lost sons. It had been somewhere around two Earth years now, but that didn’t lessen her despair. She would never forget the day when Heimdall had asked after all three remaining members of the royal family to come to the Bifrost bridge immediately because he had finally found Thor. Too shocked to second guess anything, Odin had allowed Loki to leave the dungeons and come along. Heimdall had then used his powers to grant the three royals the vision to witness along with him as Midgardians dug up a pun indescribably mutilated corpse in the New Mexico desert and identified it as Thor. The King and Queen had of course cried, but Loki.... he EXPLODED. Sobbing wasn’t sufficient to describe what Loki did. His heartbroken cry of regret and lament after learning of the loss of his brother was like nothing Asgard had ever heard before. Loki sat in his cell in a practically catatonic state for days afterwards. He didn’t eat, drink, sleep, or even speak except to apologize over and over again for partly causing the banishment that lead to Thor’s apparent murder whenever anyone so much as approached him. Frigga was also suffering from guilt because she couldn’t do anything to stop Loki from slowly wasting away. Moved with compassion and fear for the wellbeing of his adoptive son, Odin had decided that Loki needed to do something other than sit grounded in the dungeon to make up for what he did since right before and while Thor was banished, something that would also allow him to try and come to peace with the death of his brother. Odin offered Loki a deal. Loki would be freed of the dungeons entirely. Really, Loki would never have to go back to the dungeons. He could walk completely free again. All Loki had to do in return was go to Midgard and retrieve Thor’s body as well as Mjölnir to bring back to Asgard, as well as attempt to bring Thor’s killers to justice. The only additional price would be the temporary removal of Loki’s ability to hide himself from the sight of Heimdall. Loki had immediately agreed. A few days later Heimdall had panicked when he had lost track of Loki in New Mexico. The King and Queen sent people to try and retrieve Loki.... but all they ever found was Loki’s favorite dagger, broken and splattered with Loki’s own blood on the hilt. The blood and dagger’s former owner had been verified by Frigga’s own magic.There was absolutely NO way that Loki would abandon his mission to find his brother just to escape Heimdall’s sight, especially since he was was already free. The only possible conclusion was that Thor’s killers had gotten to Loki too. Sif, Heimdall, and the Warriors Three mourned both princes, abstaining from feasts and wearing all black for weeks on end. Frigga and Odin just cried and cried for their children for months. All of them blamed many of their own actions for contributing to Thor and Loki’s murders. None of them ever fully forgave themselves for what happened.

Frigga thought back to about two or maybe three Midgardian months ago. It was reported that Heimdall had received a vision in his sleep claiming to have seen an image of a figure that looked like Thor seemingly located on the opposite side of the North American continent from New Mexico. Frigga wondered if it was a sign that something related to the death of her sons was about to be revealed. Frigga put down her tea cup down on the table to the side of the couch before standing up and walking over to the balcony, folding her hands over her chest. Frigga let a tear roll down her face as she looked at the stars.

“Oh my sons, how I wish you were still here with me. You didn’t deserve to die like you did. I hope that if nothing else, you at least knew how loved you were.”

Back on Earth in an apartment bedroom in New York City, the Odinson Brothers smiled while safely asleep in their beds as happy memories of their family and friends played out in their dreams.

(AN: Ok ok I just kinda felt like the story needed this bitter sweet blurb. Sorry if it made people too sad. Oh by the way my first excerpt for Sparks In The Forge is out on Archive Of Our Own ONLY. Sparks in the Forge is a conglomeration of mini shorts spattered throughout the timeline of this fic as well as future fits in hay I have dined “The Forge Fire” series! Hope you all like it! Anyway, onward with the story!)


	9. Chapter 9

(Series Summary: In an alternate universe, HYDRA has done a lot of personal damage to many of the heroes of Marvel. They truly are the victims of horrible trauma. They were taken as HYDRA agents by force, used as lab rats, abused, damaged, brainwashed, mind controlled, and HURT in ways that can’t truly ever be fixed. Then they escaped, or were rescued, and they banded together to form a team. The Avengers are a group of ex child HYDRA agents who’s mission is to one day destroy HYDRA for good. Their mission is not easy, and the life they live does not help lightning the load. Living with poverty, constantly being bullied, food insecurity, all different kinds of psychological conditions including PTSD, various disabilities and physical illnesses, and almost no family members to turn to, while working for cash in any way they can and dumpster diving by day and raiding secret HYDRA bases by night is hard enough, especially since they live together without ANY true adults. Adding in that none of the Avengers are 18 yet (at least in Earth years) just makes it harder. They’ve really only kept their hope Alive because they have each other for support, occasionally along with their mysterious advocate Mr. Coulson and the generosity of neighbors and strangers. However, the Avengers are survivors. They refuse to give up on the hope that HYDRA won’t steal the futures they dream of, so they keep fighting any way they can.

Then one spring they start getting new teammates, and they gain more once summer rolls around. They definitely never imagined that they would receive allies from space! To think that everything changed the day the Avengers rescued a couple of new members during a HYDRA base raid, including a newly blinded boy who says his name is Prince Thor Odinson of Asgard. Then over a month later they rescue (and successfully recruit) Thor’s brother Prince Loki Odinson, who is QUITE shocked to find out that Thor is not only blind, but is in fact ALIVE, especially considering that Thor was thought to be dead for over two years when his elder brother disappeared without a trace after his banishment ended! Thor meanwhile is shocked to learn that HYDRA had been holding Loki captive almost as long as they had held Thor, and that HYDRA had left Loki with one less leg than he had the last time he had seen him. Two weeks after Loki joins the Avengers, they rescue and recruit even MORE kids and expand the avengers even further! All of these new allies were welcome additions to the Avengers team, but when they realized that getting the Odinson brothers back to Asgard could lead to an interplanetary alliance? Well, that opened up a whole ton of new possibilities for the Avengers that could step up their small scale rebellion against HYDRA up big time! One thing is certain though, these kids are the best chance the world has of beating HYDRA once and for all.

This story will EVENTUALLY focus heavily on Thor and Loki at times so if you like the Brodinsons you’re in the right place! You’ve just got be patient! Warning: In this story I take some creative liberties with science. This story also features characters who have debilitating permanent injuries such as characters with nerve damage, blindness, injury related deafness, or who are amputees, as well as characters with in born conditions like ADHD or learning disabilities. I mean no offense if I portray something incorrectly or something. All of the Avengers will have PTSD in this story. This is not a story for young children due to sensitive topics.)

(Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel or any Marvel Characters in any way, shape, or form)

(What’s the difference between form and shape anyway?)

**Forged by Lightning, Rescued by Love**

Chapter 9

———

It shouldn’t have been surprising by now, but the day after the newest second wave avengers were evaluated was the day they were introduced to dumpster diving. However, this time it was Loki who opened the dumpster first. He had realized that it was his turn to mentor the fresh recruits about how to survive in poverty in New York. Loki was still new and scared, but he had helped save these kids. It was a chance to repay the Avengers for saving him and taking him in by helping those who looked up to him as their elder member. So with a supportive smile on his face Loki flipped up the infamous dumpster lid for the new avengers so they could climb inside.

“This is one of the grossest, slimiest, most nauseating dumpsters in the city.... and you are all going to climb inside and search for salvageable items for us to take.” The newest avengers (besides venom) all gagged and made disgusted noises. Loki chuckled and hoisted himself up so he was sitting on the edge of the short side of the rectangular dumpster, his legs hanging over the side in the direction of the street and his torso turned towards the Avengers standing in front of the dumpster’s long side with one arm folded over his lap.

“I know, it’s not easy to accept that you have to do this. It may seem degrading, or you may feel ashamed, or feel as if you’ve sunk down to become the lowest of the low. Believe me, I get it. Just look at Thor and I! The two of us are Princes. We grew up in luxury, but look where we are now. We’re here trying our best just to survive same as you. I’m still working on repairing my dignity after being saved by HYDRA just as all of you are. Living in poverty... that makes it even harder. However, I know that we can all rise above this one day. You wanna know how I can believe that? I believe that because we’re not alone. The avengers are a team, a support system, and a family. As long as we have each other, we’ll always have people by our side to prop us up all the way to the end. Remember that this does not have to be your future. If we beat HYDRA, we have a chance to build the lives we’ve always dreamed of. But we can’t do that if we don’t survive long enough to see our mission through. Whatever hardship we face, we will face together, and in the end we will be victorious.”

The new avengers actually looked more hopeful after Loki’s speech. They could see that Loki was right. They admired his determination and inner strength. They knew that they could count on him to help them keep the faith. Finally, Venom shot out a tendril and propelled himself and Eddie into the dumpster. There was a shout from within of Eddie telling Venom not to eat something gross that made everyone laugh. Soon the Cloak of Levitation lifted Stephen Strange into the air and dropped him over the side of the garbage receptacle. Peter flung Harley into the dumpster at Harley’s request. Eddie reached over the side to help Anne inside. Thor, being ever chivalrous, assisted Jane into the dumpster as carefully as he could without seeing what he was doing. Thor couldn’t see his brother, but he knew that he was incredibly proud of Loki. His little brother had inspired their newest teammates to press onward and be brave as they entered this hard portion of their lives. Finally Loki gave Darcy a much needed hand while keeping his perch. She smiled at him as he did so. The new dumpster divers managed to find some pawnable objects in that dumpster before the group moved on to other spots. At one point Thor managed to accidentally grab a live rat and flung it away with the most ironic and funny girly screech once he realized it, making everyone else laugh again. The avengers pressed on, even after it began raining. They dove and dove until sunset. They made chicken salad for dinner and watched YouTube videos until it was time for bed. Tony was fiddling on one of his beat up laptops and Rhodey noticed that Tony had a repaired video camera hooked up to it. Rhodey then remembered that Tony had been filming things with that camera ever since they found it a few weeks before the first of the second wave Avengers joined the group. Rhodey decided that he was going to keep an eye on Tony while he was filming.

———

______

The adventures of the Avengers were varied, but no less impactful that summer. It was a mix of good and bad. It wasn’t always easy to stay positive. With the growth of their numbers came the growth of their problems, and OH were their problems! The bullying increased, budgets were stretched to the limit, and the hot summer sun made everyone feel terrible. The most detrimental of these problems however came in mid July, when poor Pepper got sick.

They were digging into some pastries that they had salvaged from a bakery trash can when Pepper collapsed and went into anaphylactic shock. It turns out that Pepper had developed a severe strawberry allergy. No one knew why, but they suspected it had something to do with a strange vial a HYDRA scientist managed to spill on her during a mission. Loki had needed to teleport Pepper to a hospital for treatment. Pepper gained a terrible and extremely rare intestinal infection from the incident and was hospitalized for over a week. She had nearly died, but thankfully Pepper was strong and would eventually make a full recovery. The Avengers had needed to work double time to pay the hospital bill because none of them had medical insurance. They couldn’t afford it. Everyone was afraid of what would happen should someone ever need to be admitted to the hospital again.

Yeah, the Avengers DEFINITELY needed a pick me up. That’s why one day Tony and Steve declared that they were all going to the beach. Tony wound up splurging his pocket money on sunblock, food, and swimwear for everyone. Everyone else subtly agreed to pay Tony back for it over the course of the summer. And that’s how the Avengers found themselves at Point Pleasant beach in New Jersey. The group had never before been more grateful for Tony’s genius than they were when Tony gave everyone three quarter sleeve length surf shirts in their favorite colors. The shirts were able to hide many of their scars and prevent sun burn so they could enjoy the sun and ocean water without feeling embarrassed. Bucky wound up using a knife to cut one sleeve off of his shirt for his prosthetic to fit through. The sleeve scraps were stolen straight out of his hand by a pelican wanting to use the material for a nest. Bucky stared in open mouthed shock as the bird flew away. Everyone else who witnessed laughed. On the beach Thor was amazed at the feeling of sand between his toes, at least until he almost cut himself on a pebble. Thankfully Tony thought to get water proof water shoe type sandals for that. It was discovered that Thor, Harley, and Loki couldn’t swim, so part of the day turned into an impromptu swimming lesson. Harley and the two Asgardians were quite nervous and confused, especially Thor, but the others were able to make them feel better by making sure they wouldn’t drown. It was a calm day without too many waves, which was definitely helpful for swimming lessons. Harley and Thor wound up being average at swimming. Loki wound up being surprisingly good at swimming with one leg in person form by relying mostly on upper body strength. He also occasionally shifted into other forms to swim with a single tail instead of two legs. Loki found that he usually wound up missing a significant portion of his tail or fin or flipper when he did, but he still had fun. Everyone laughed when Annie got slapped in the face by a jumping fish. Venom then grabbed another fish and ate it’s head off before Eddie threw the rest of the fish away, hitting Annie again before a seagull got the fish remains. Then Annie started a splash war. Natasha made Clint piggy back her through the shallower parts of the surf so she could enjoy the water without her prosthetic. Clint didn’t mind, but he made pig sounds to annoy Natasha. Loki tried to prank everyone with illusions of sharks as well as by shape shifting into a shark and sneaking up on people, but he stopped after freaking out at the sight of a dolphin swimming near the surface and mistaking it for a REAL shark. Everyone was amazed by the dolphin, with Wanda sending Thor a vision of the creature so he wouldn’t feel left out.

Sam got stung by a jellyfish. Clint told Loki about how some people claim the best treatment for a jellyfish sting other then hot water and sting ointment was to pee on it. Sam turned out to be fine once Bruce and Stephen treated him, but he wound up chasing Clint and Loki around the beach for trying to pour a bottle of lemonade on him claiming it was actually urine. Loki eventually wound up teleporting himself away a small distance while laughing like mad and leaving Clint at Sam’s mercy. Loki later got stung by a jellyfish as well. In retaliation for leaving him behind earlier Clint tried to give the dark haired prince the lemonade bottle. Loki METAPHORICALLY glared daggers at Clint for offering him lemonade while Stephen and Bruce were treating Loki too. Thor wound up brother-henning Loki for a straight hour out of worry until Loki felt better enough to brave the water again. Bruce and Stephen wound up having an intense debate about the effectiveness of urine as a jellyfish sting treatment while sipping lemonade under a beach umbrella afterwards (the umbrella was actually Mjölnir but the two doctors didn’t know that).

Harley and Peter buried Vision up to his neck in the sand and threw a towel over his face while he took a cat nap. Tony then witnessed a person metal detecting completely freak out when his machine went crazy and Vision popped up out of the sand like a sandy jack in the box, causing the metal detector enthusiast to run screeching a mile down the beach. Wanda nearly wasn’t successful at running after the guy to provide an explanation. She wound up having to chase the metal detector enthusiast almost half a mile down the boardwalk once he left the sand. Wanda came back later and reported that she used magic to convince the man that it had all been a crazy dream after making him fall asleep. This got Tony to start laughing all over again. Pepper then hit Tony over the head with a sunblock bottle and told him it was time to stop laughing and lather up.

Rhodey and Steve decided to have a sandcastle building contest with Darcy and Jane. Natasha declared Darcy and Jane the winners. Both castles got wiped out by the high tide an hour after completion. Natasha then build a better sand castle that beat both of the other sandcastles and stayed standing longer than the others ever did. Steve was disappointed in himself.

The cloak of levitation wound up collecting sea shells and dumping them on everyone’s heads. It almost made the Hulk emerge, but Hulk was placated when Peter offered to make Hulk a sea shell necklace at some point. Loki put a few shells in his pocket dimensions. The Avengers ate dinner on the beach while watching the sunset. Overall, it was one of the best days that any of the Avengers had had in years. What the Avengers didn’t know was that by the end of the summer, they would finally receive their chance to make happy days like this possible more often. Why? Because they were finally going to be able to access some much needed help courtesy of the Odinson brother’s home planet. That’s right... one day soon, Loki was finally going to locate the secret path back to Asgard.

(AN: The wait is nearly over! Next chapter Loki will finally reunite with his family and friends on Asgard! Why only Loki? You’ll find out soon! Remember to look for more updates on A03 from Sparks In The Forge for more content from The Forge Fire Series!)


End file.
